Garza v. American Family Insurance Company

5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 6 AT SEATTLE BRIANNA GARZA, et al., Plaintiffs, 9 v. C21-1234 TSZ 10 AMERICAN FAMILY INSURANCE MINUTE ORDER COMPANY, Defendant.

13 The following Minute Order is made by direction of the Court, the Honorable Thomas S. Zilly, United States District Judge: (1) Plaintiffs’ motion to remand, docket no. 14, is GRANTED. The removed crossclaim, docket no. 1-2, is a part of the underlying civil action, Garzas v. Perry, No. 19-2-03262-31, that Plaintiffs initiated in the Snohomish County Superior Court.

The Court concludes that the removed crossclaim is not a separate action. Further, Defendant continues to litigate the underlying action in state court, recently filing a notice of appeal in state appellate court. Ex. 1 to Sullivan Decl. (docket no. 21). “[A] district court, when determining whether it has original jurisdiction over a civil action, should evaluate whether that action could have been brought originally in federal court. ” Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. v. Jackson, 139 S. Ct. 1743, 1748 (2019). The Court does not have original jurisdiction over the underlying action as Plaintiffs could not have filed their complaint in federal court. See 28 U.S.C. § 1332. Plaintiffs and Defendant Perry are citizens of Washington. Ex. 1 to Sullivan Decl. at ¶¶ 1.1–1.3 (docket no. 15-1). Without diversity of citizenship, the Court lacks jurisdiction over the underlying action.

21 (2) This matter is REMANDED to the Snohomish County Superior Court, effective fourteen (14) days from the date of this Minute Order. The Court declines to award any attorney fees or costs incurred as a result of the removal of this action.

1 (3) The Clerk is directed to send a copy of this Minute Order to all counsel of record.

Dated this 19th day of November, 2021.

Ravi Subramanian Clerk s/Gail Glass Deputy Clerk