Opinion
Civil Action No. 06-cv-00553-LTB-MEH.
July 12, 2006
ORDER
This case is before me on Plaintiffs' Motion to Remand. After consideration of the motions, related pleadings, and the case file, I grant Plaintiffs' motion for the reasons set forth below.
I. Background
On January 10, 2003, Plaintiffs, along with other individuals, commenced Case No. 03 CV55 in the Boulder County District Court asserting various state law claims against Defendant and other insurance companies based on their alleged failure to properly inform the plaintiffs of the nature and scope of uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.
On February 24, 2006, the state court ordered that the claims against Defendant be severed from those asserted against the other defendant insurance companies. The claims against several other defendant insurance companies in Case No. 03CV55 were likewise severed from each other. Each of the severed cases was assigned a new case number and amended complaints were to be filed in order to limit the allegations and claims to the appropriate parties.
On March 27, 2006, Defendant removed this case to this Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1446 based on diversity jurisdiction. Plaintiffs now seek to remand this case back to the Boulder District Court on the grounds that Defendant's removal was untimely and that the amount in controversy is less than the jurisdictional minimum.
II. Analysis
Section 1446(b) provides that a case may not be removed on the basis of diversity jurisdiction more than one year after the commencement of the action. The question of whether Defendants' removal of this case was timely therefore requires a determination of when this action was commenced. In this regard, Plaintiffs argue that the applicable date is January 10, 2003, which is the date Case No. 03CV55 was filed in the Boulder County District Court, while Defendant argues that the applicable date is February 24, 2006, which is the date that Plaintiff's claims against Defendants were severed from the other claims asserted in Case No. 03CV55.
On July 10, 2006, Judge Robert E. Blackburn of this Court granted a similar motion to remand that had been filed in one of the other cases that was severed from Case No. 03CV55. Specifically, in Briggs v. Geico General Ins. Co., Civil Case No. 06-cv-00550, Judge Blackburn concluded that the removed state court case commenced on January 10, 2003 and that the plaintiff's removal on the basis of diversity jurisdiction more than 3 years later was therefore untimely. I adopt Judge Blackburn's reasoning and further incorporate the remand order in Briggs, a copy of which is attached, herein by reference.
Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Plaintiff's Motion to Remand [Doc. # 14] is GRANTED.