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8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10

11 OLIVE BETTY DE MARIA, Case No.: 8:23-cv-00956-DOC-DFM [Orange County Superior Court 12 Plaintiff, Case No.: 30-2022-01291862-CU-PO-CJC]

13 v. [Assigned to Hon. David O. Carter, District Judge; Hon. Douglas F. McCormick, 14 LOWE’S COMPANIES, INC.; and Magistrate Judge] DOES 1 through 100, inclusive 15 ORDER GRANTING STIPULATION TO Defendants. REMAND CASE TO STATE COURT [11] 16 Complaint Filed: November 14, 2022 17

18 The Court, having read and considered the parties’ Stipulation to Remand, 19 hereby ORDERS as follows: 20 I. BACKGROUND 21 On November 14, 2022, Plaintiff OLIVE BETTY DE MARIA (“Plaintiff”) 22 commenced the above-entitled action in the Superior Court for the State of 23 California, County of Orange, by filing a Complaint therein entitled Olive Betty De 24 Maria v. Lowe’s Companies, Inc.; and Does 1 through 100, inclusive, Case No. 30- 25 2022-01291862-CU-PO-CJC. Plaintiff’s Complaint for personal injury arises from 26 an alleged incident on June 21, 2021, at a Lowe’s store located in the City of La 27 Habra, County of Orange, State of California. Defendant LOWE’S HOME 28 1 CENTERS, LLC (“Defendant”) removed the matter to federal court pursuant to 28

, 1441, and 1367, on June 1, 2023. 3 Defendant has identified its store manager on duty at the time of this incident in 4 its written discovery responses as Robert Dominguez. Plaintiff has advised its intent 5 to file a motion for leave to amend to add the store manager on duty as a defendant 6 and to remand to state court. The parties have met and conferred on this issue. 7 The parties have now agreed and stipulated that with the addition of the 8 Defendant’s store manager on duty, complete diversity will no longer exist. 9 Accordingly, the parties request an order from this Court remanding the case to the 10 Orange County Superior Court, Case No. 30-2022-01291862-CU-PO-CJC, and have 11 agreed that with such remand, Plaintiff will not add any employee of Defendant, 12 including but not limited to Robert Dominguez, as a defendant. The parties have 13 further agreed that Defendant will not attempt to remove the matter to federal court a 14 second time. 15 II. ANALYSIS 16 United States Code, Title 28, Section 1447(c), provides that “[i]f at any time 17 before final judgment it appears that the district court lacks subject matter 18 jurisdiction, the case shall be remanded.” (Emphasis added). Because complete 19 diversity no longer exists, this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction and must, 20 therefore, remand the case to state court pursuant to

(c). See Bruns 21 v. NCUA

, 1257 (9th Cir. 1997) (“Section 1447(c) is mandatory, not 22 discretionary.”) 23 III. ORDER OF THE COURT 24 1. Pursuant to the parties’ Stipulation, because complete diversity will no 25 longer exist, this Court will no longer has subject matter jurisdiction and the matter is 26 hereby REMANDED to the Superior Court for the State of California, County of 27 Orange, Case No.: 30-2022-01291862-CU-PO-CJC. This Order shall be accorded full 28 force and effect in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Orange, Case No.: 30-2022-01291862-CU-PO-CIJC. 2 2. All pending dates in the Federal action are hereby vacated. 3 3. Plaintiff will not name any of Defendant’s employees, including but not limited to Robert Dominguez, as a defendant. 5 6 IT IS SO ORDERED. Ahawi Dated: September 11, 2023 a 9 HON. DAVID O. CARTER 0 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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