The Fifth Circuit has vacated an order that sent a wrongful-death case against UPS and other defendants back to Texas state court, drawing a careful line between missing jurisdiction and defective jurisdictional pleading.
UPS removed the case on diversity grounds. The district court acted on its own and remanded because the notice relied in part on the plaintiffs’ residence rather than conclusively establishing their citizenship. Federal diversity jurisdiction turns on citizenship, not residence.
The appellate court held that the remand rested on a procedural defect in the removal papers, not an affirmative finding that subject-matter jurisdiction was absent. Because the district court raised that procedural problem sua sponte, the statutory bar that normally prevents appellate review of certain remand orders did not apply. The panel vacated the order and returned the case for further proceedings, without deciding the underlying tort claims.
The published October 30 opinion also cautions lawyers to plead citizenship facts directly and accurately.
