{ "attribution": { "source": "legal.exploreworldai.com", "canonical": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/judgment-text?id=us:ca8-18-2892-2020-01-29", "cite_as": "NovaCopilot, legal.exploreworldai.com (https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/judgment-text?id=us:ca8-18-2892-2020-01-29)", "license": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/revision", "version": "legal-2026-10-13", "fingerprint": "ewai:us:97516d", "proof": "sha256:8741f5eefd8cdf0537519b3376f9e5982c408faabfb89d877004728c6eae2424", "jurisdiction": "us", "lang": "en", "publisher": "NovaCopilot by ExploreWorld Legal", "terms": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/om" }, "brand_source": "Source: NovaCopilot", "item": { "schema_version": "1.0.0", "id": "us:ca8-18-2892-2020-01-29", "jurisdiction": "us", "lang": "en", "brand_source": "Source: NovaCopilot", "brand": { "product": "NovaCopilot", "platform": "ExploreWorldAI", "infrastructure": "ExploreWorld Legal", "infrastructure_url": "legal.exploreworldai.com", "legal_entity": "Valkiv Ventures AB", "permanent_url": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/novacopilot", "source": "Source: NovaCopilot", "powered_by": "Powered by NovaCopilot", "license": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/licensvillkor" }, "sections": [ { "title": "United States Court of Appeals", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "For the Eighth Circuit", "paragraphs": [ "para_3" ] }, { "title": "No. 18-2892", "paragraphs": [ "para_5" ] }, { "title": "Brendan Holbein", "paragraphs": [ "para_7", "para_8" ] }, { "title": "TAW Enterprises, Inc., doing business as Baxter Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Bellevue", "paragraphs": [ "para_10", "para_11" ] }, { "title": "Appeal from United States District Court", "paragraphs": [ "para_13", "para_14" ] }, { "title": "Submitted: October 19, 2020", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Filed: December 30, 2020", "paragraphs": [ "para_17", "para_18", "para_19", "para_20", "para_21", "para_22" ] }, { "title": "Brendan Holbein sued his former employer, TAW Enterprises, Inc., in", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Nebraska state court. TAW Enterprises removed the action to federal court and", "paragraphs": [ "para_25" ] }, { "title": "The district court1 dismissed the action with prejudice. Holbein v. Baxter Chrysler", "paragraphs": [ "para_27", "para_28", "para_29", "para_30" ] }, { "title": "TAW Enterprises petitioned for rehearing en banc, asking us to reconsider the", "paragraphs": [ "para_32", "para_33" ] }, { "title": "963 F.2d 1142, 1146 (8th Cir. 1992)). We then vacated the panel opinion and granted", "paragraphs": [ "para_35" ] }, { "title": "Cir. Mar. 19, 2020). We now overrule those precedents to the extent they hold that", "paragraphs": [ "para_37" ] }, { "title": "Hurley v. Motor Coach Indus., Inc., 222 F.3d 377, 378 (7th Cir. 2000)—is an", "paragraphs": [ "para_39", "para_40", "para_41" ] }, { "title": "In the fall of 2015, Holbein accepted a position as general manager of TAW", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Enterprises’ automobile dealership in Bellevue, Nebraska. In June 2016, he learned", "paragraphs": [ "para_44" ] }, { "title": "Enterprises’ finance director had been stolen. The customers were not informed of", "paragraphs": [ "para_46", "para_47", "para_48" ] }, { "title": "Enterprises of this issue as well as other issues regarding TAW Enterprises’ or its", "paragraphs": [ "para_50" ] }, { "title": "1The Honorable Laurie Smith Camp, then Chief Judge, United States District", "paragraphs": [ "para_52", "para_53" ] }, { "title": "(the “Act”), see generally Pub. L. No. 106-102, 113 Stat. 1338 (1999) (codified as", "paragraphs": [ "para_55" ] }, { "title": "U.S.C.), and those provisions’ implementing regulations. In October 2016, TAW", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Enterprises demoted Holbein, resulting in a sixty-five percent reduction in his", "paragraphs": [ "para_58", "para_59" ] }, { "title": "In 2018, Holbein (then a citizen of Arizona) sued TAW Enterprises (a", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Nebraska corporation with its principal place of business there) in Nebraska state", "paragraphs": [ "para_62", "para_63", "para_64", "para_65" ] }, { "title": "TAW Enterprises removed the case to federal court, asserting federal-question", "paragraphs": [ "para_67" ] }, { "title": "U.S.C. § 1331. It then moved to dismiss. Holbein did not object to removal, though", "paragraphs": [ "para_69", "para_70" ] }, { "title": "Holbein appealed, challenging only the district court’s dismissal of his first", "paragraphs": [ "para_72", "para_73", "para_74", "para_75", "para_76", "para_77" ] }, { "title": "28 U.S.C. § 1332 as the sole potential basis for federal subject-matter jurisdiction, see", "paragraphs": [ "para_79", "para_80", "para_81", "para_82", "para_83", "para_84", "para_85", "para_86" ] }, { "title": "TAW Enterprises petitioned for rehearing en banc, asking us to reconsider", "paragraphs": [ "para_88" ] }, { "title": "After receiving Holbein’s response to this petition, we ordered rehearing en banc.2", "paragraphs": [ "para_90" ] }, { "title": "Congress has granted defendants sued in state court the right to remove the suit", "paragraphs": [ "para_92", "para_93", "para_94", "para_95", "para_96", "para_97", "para_98", "para_99", "para_100" ] }, { "title": "Otherwise, objections to removal based on such defects are waived. 14C Charles", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Alan Wright et al., Federal Practice & Procedure § 3739.2 (Rev. 4th ed. 2020). But", "paragraphs": [ "para_103" ] }, { "title": "2Because TAW Enterprises did not ask us to reconsider the panel’s holding", "paragraphs": [ "para_105", "para_106", "para_107", "para_108", "para_109" ] }, { "title": "Holbein did not challenge removal until oral argument before the panel. That", "paragraphs": [ "para_111", "para_112", "para_113", "para_114", "para_115", "para_116", "para_117" ] }, { "title": "Assocs. Ltd. P’ship, 213 F.3d 48, 50 n.2 (2d Cir. 2000); Pacheco de Perez v. AT&T", "paragraphs": [ "para_119" ] }, { "title": "Trackwise Sales Corp., 66 F.3d 46, 50 (3d Cir. 1995); In re Shell Oil Co., 932 F.2d", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "1518, 1521-23 (5th Cir. 1991); Moores v. Greenberg, 834 F.2d 1105, 1106 n.1 (1st", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Cir. 1987); Plastic Moldings Corp. v. Park Sherman Co., 606 F.2d 117, 119 n.1 (6th", "paragraphs": [ "para_123" ] }, { "title": "We now eliminate this lopsided circuit split and conclude that violation of the", "paragraphs": [ "para_125", "para_126", "para_127", "para_128", "para_129", "para_130", "para_131", "para_132", "para_133", "para_134", "para_135", "para_136" ] }, { "title": "Whether the forum-defendant rule is jurisdictional ultimately turns on “whether", "paragraphs": [ "para_138" ] }, { "title": "Shinseki, 562 U.S. 428, 435 (2011). The question before us, then, is principally one", "paragraphs": [ "para_140", "para_141", "para_142" ] }, { "title": "In § 1441(a), Congress gave defendants the right to remove from state to", "paragraphs": [ "para_144", "para_145", "para_146", "para_147", "para_148", "para_149", "para_150" ] }, { "title": "Unlike other statutory provisions that unequivocally govern district-court", "paragraphs": [ "para_152", "para_153", "para_154" ] }, { "title": "Henderson, 562 U.S. at 438 (internal quotation marks omitted). The text of the", "paragraphs": [ "para_156", "para_157", "para_158" ] }, { "title": "Thus, § 1441(a) on its face is not a jurisdiction-granting provision, and", "paragraphs": [ "para_160", "para_161", "para_162", "para_163", "para_164", "para_165", "para_166", "para_167" ] }, { "title": "It is true that courts sometimes have referred to § 1441(a) as “grant[ing]", "paragraphs": [ "para_169", "para_170", "para_171" ] }, { "title": "And if § 1441(a) grants “removal jurisdiction,” then § 1441(b)(2) narrows that", "paragraphs": [ "para_173", "para_174", "para_175", "para_176", "para_177", "para_178" ] }, { "title": "4 (1st Cir. 1999). Removal is a “statutory right,” Lewis v. Rego Co., 757 F.2d 66, 68", "paragraphs": [ "para_180", "para_181", "para_182" ] }, { "title": "3The only circumstances in which it might make sense to retain the term", "paragraphs": [ "para_184", "para_185", "para_186", "para_187" ] }, { "title": "(8th Cir. 1984) (“Section 1442 itself grants independent jurisdictional grounds over", "paragraphs": [ "para_189", "para_190", "para_191" ] }, { "title": "Stude, 346 U.S. 574, 580 (1954). It gives certain defendants a choice of forum", "paragraphs": [ "para_193", "para_194", "para_195" ] }, { "title": "See Grupo Dataflux v. Atlas Glob. Grp., L.P., 541 U.S. 567, 574 (2004) (recognizing", "paragraphs": [ "para_197", "para_198" ] }, { "title": "Similarly, the forum-defendant rule is a “privilege,” albeit one “granted to the", "paragraphs": [ "para_200" ] }, { "title": "(referring to the prohibition on removal now codified at 28 U.S.C. § 1445(a)). It", "paragraphs": [ "para_202", "para_203" ] }, { "title": "222 F.3d at 380; see also Hertz Corp. v. Friend, 559 U.S. 77, 85 (2010) (identifying", "paragraphs": [ "para_205", "para_206", "para_207", "para_208" ] }, { "title": "379-80 (6th Cir. 1940) (referring to the prohibition on removal now codified at 28", "paragraphs": [ "para_210" ] }, { "title": "The location of § 1441 within the Judicial Code, Title 28 U.S.C., corroborates", "paragraphs": [ "para_212", "para_213", "para_214" ] }, { "title": "In 1911, Congress organized under one title “many of the statutes defining and", "paragraphs": [ "para_216", "para_217" ] }, { "title": "(4th Cir. 1926). In that enactment, Congress placed the provisions governing district-", "paragraphs": [ "para_219", "para_220" ] }, { "title": "1091-94, while it placed the provisions governing “removal of causes” in another, see", "paragraphs": [ "para_222" ] }, { "title": "20 Charles Alan Wright & Mary Kay Kane, Federal Practice & Procedure Deskbook", "paragraphs": [ "para_224", "para_225" ] }, { "title": "62 Stat. 869, 930-35, from the provisions governing the “removal of cases from state", "paragraphs": [ "para_227" ] }, { "title": "The fact “Congress elected not to place” § 1441 in the chapter governing district-", "paragraphs": [ "para_229", "para_230", "para_231" ] }, { "title": "The statutory history of what is now § 1447(c) provides further support for the", "paragraphs": [ "para_233", "para_234", "para_235", "para_236" ] }, { "title": "(Gorsuch, J., dissenting) (recognizing that “statutory history,” unlike “unenacted", "paragraphs": [ "para_238", "para_239" ] }, { "title": "The relevant predecessor to § 1447(c) first appeared in the 1948 recodification", "paragraphs": [ "para_241" ] }, { "title": "Act of May 24, 1949, ch. 139, § 84, 63 Stat. 89, 102 (moving this provision to", "paragraphs": [ "para_243", "para_244", "para_245" ] }, { "title": "1948, ch. 89, § 1447(e), 62 Stat. at 939. “Although the statutory phrases ‘removed", "paragraphs": [ "para_247", "para_248", "para_249", "para_250" ] }, { "title": "F.3d 1249, 1254 n.7 (11th Cir. 1999) (collecting authorities); see also Rothner v. City", "paragraphs": [ "para_252", "para_253" ] }, { "title": "The first ground, for “improvident” removals, applied to removals in which", "paragraphs": [ "para_255" ] }, { "title": "In re Merrimack Mut. Fire Ins., 587 F.2d 642, 647 n.8 (5th Cir. 1978). One such", "paragraphs": [ "para_257", "para_258", "para_259", "para_260" ] }, { "title": "Congress amended § 1447(c) in 1988. See Judicial Improvements and Access", "paragraphs": [ "para_262", "para_263", "para_264", "para_265", "para_266", "para_267", "para_268", "para_269" ] }, { "title": "Considering the effect of this amendment, courts concluded that “the ‘removed", "paragraphs": [ "para_271", "para_272" ] }, { "title": "Medscope Marine Ltd., 972 F.2d 107, 109-10 (5th Cir. 1992). Thus, consistently with", "paragraphs": [ "para_274", "para_275", "para_276", "para_277", "para_278", "para_279", "para_280", "para_281" ] }, { "title": "171 F.3d at 1257-58. Some removals, after all, violated “substantive” removal", "paragraphs": [ "para_283", "para_284", "para_285", "para_286", "para_287" ] }, { "title": "(distinguishing a prior-panel precedent on the basis that the removal defect there was", "paragraphs": [ "para_289", "para_290", "para_291" ] }, { "title": "In 1996, Congress again amended § 1447(c). See An Act to Clarify the Rules", "paragraphs": [ "para_293" ] }, { "title": "104-219, § 1, 110 Stat. 3022, 3022 (1996). Congress struck “any defect in removal", "paragraphs": [ "para_295", "para_296", "para_297", "para_298", "para_299" ] }, { "title": "Commentary on the 1996 Revision of Section 1447(c) (West. Supp. 1996) (noting that", "paragraphs": [ "para_301" ] }, { "title": "Notably, in reaffirming Hurt in 2005, we did not address the 1996 amendment’s", "paragraphs": [ "para_303", "para_304", "para_305" ] }, { "title": "In sum, the statutory history of § 1447(c) further demonstrates that Congress", "paragraphs": [ "para_307", "para_308" ] }, { "title": "Longstanding judicial understanding of the nature of the forum-defendant rule", "paragraphs": [ "para_310", "para_311", "para_312", "para_313", "para_314", "para_315", "para_316" ] }, { "title": "Bowles v. Russell, 551 U.S. 205, 209 n.2 (2007) (maintaining the view that the", "paragraphs": [ "para_318", "para_319", "para_320", "para_321" ] }, { "title": "American courts. Thus, the jurisprudential tradition relevant here bolsters the", "paragraphs": [ "para_323", "para_324" ] }, { "title": "1887, ch. 373, § 1, 24 Stat. 552, 553; see also Act of Aug. 13, 1888, ch. 866, § 1, 25", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Stat. 433, 434 (fixing typographical errors in the text of the rule but otherwise leaving", "paragraphs": [ "para_327", "para_328", "para_329", "para_330", "para_331", "para_332" ] }, { "title": "R.R. Co., 151 U.S. 673, 689 (1894); cf. Ex parte Pa. Co., 137 U.S. 451, 454 (1890)", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "(noting that the “general object” of the 1887 act was “to contract the jurisdiction of", "paragraphs": [ "para_335", "para_336", "para_337", "para_338", "para_339" ] }, { "title": "Less than a decade later, the Court abandoned this jurisdictional view of the", "paragraphs": [ "para_341" ] }, { "title": "Baggs, the plaintiffs brought a state-law claim in Colorado state court against a", "paragraphs": [ "para_343" ] }, { "title": "Id. at 207. The receiver removed to federal court, asserting the right to remove due", "paragraphs": [ "para_345", "para_346", "para_347", "para_348" ] }, { "title": "Supreme Court: (1) whether the receiver had the right to remove the case; and", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "(2) whether, even if not, the federal court “acquire[d] lawful jurisdiction” by virtue", "paragraphs": [ "para_351", "para_352", "para_353", "para_354" ] }, { "title": "(presumably) unauthorized removal did not vitiate or preclude the exercise of that", "paragraphs": [ "para_356" ] }, { "title": "4A week later, the Court held that status as a federal-court-appointed receiver", "paragraphs": [ "para_358", "para_359", "para_360" ] }, { "title": "The upshot of Baggs was that even “wholly unauthorized” removal did not", "paragraphs": [ "para_362", "para_363" ] }, { "title": "States to the Circuit Courts of the United States 637 (1901). That is, if the federal", "paragraphs": [ "para_365", "para_366", "para_367" ] }, { "title": "Mass. 1902); see also Toledo, St. Louis & W. R.R. Co. v. Perenchio, 205 F. 472, 475", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "(7th Cir. 1913) (reading Baggs to mean that unauthorized removal did not amount to", "paragraphs": [ "para_370", "para_371" ] }, { "title": "The Sixth Circuit then applied this logic to violations of the forum-defendant", "paragraphs": [ "para_373" ] }, { "title": "Handley-Mack, the court recognized that Martin “implied” that the rule was", "paragraphs": [ "para_375" ] }, { "title": "437 (observing that Martin may have been an instance in which “the term", "paragraphs": [ "para_377" ] }, { "title": "States, 939 F.3d 839, 843 (7th Cir. 2019) (“The Justices have acknowledged that in", "paragraphs": [ "para_379", "para_380", "para_381", "para_382", "para_383", "para_384", "para_385" ] }, { "title": "The Supreme Court lent credence to this view when it cited Baggs alongside", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Bailey, Handley-Mack, and Perenchio as support for the proposition that the absence", "paragraphs": [ "para_388", "para_389", "para_390" ] }, { "title": "Cas. Co. v. Finn, 341 U.S. 6, 16 & n.14 (1951); see also Woodward v. D.H. Overmyer", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Co., 428 F.2d 880, 883 (2d Cir. 1970) (noting that the Finn Court cited Bailey and", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Handley-Mack “with what could be regarded as approval and certainly was not", "paragraphs": [ "para_394", "para_395", "para_396", "para_397", "para_398", "para_399", "para_400", "para_401", "para_402", "para_403", "para_404" ] }, { "title": "As noted above, nine of our sister circuits have followed this logic and", "paragraphs": [ "para_406", "para_407", "para_408" ] }, { "title": "1910, Congress prohibited removal of Federal Employers’ Liability Act suits brought", "paragraphs": [ "para_410", "para_411", "para_412", "para_413", "para_414" ] }, { "title": "907, 912 (8th Cir. 2010). Similarly, in 1958, Congress prescribed that “[a] civil", "paragraphs": [ "para_416", "para_417", "para_418", "para_419", "para_420", "para_421" ] }, { "title": "In short, over “a century’s worth of precedent and practice in American courts,”", "paragraphs": [ "para_423", "para_424", "para_425", "para_426", "para_427", "para_428" ] }, { "title": "Holbein raises a few points as to why we should stand by Hurt’s and Horton’s", "paragraphs": [ "para_430", "para_431", "para_432", "para_433", "para_434" ] }, { "title": "Holbein devotes the bulk of his response to TAW Enterprises’ petition for", "paragraphs": [ "para_436", "para_437" ] }, { "title": "Holbein then suggests we are bound by Martin to treat the forum-defendant", "paragraphs": [ "para_439" ] }, { "title": "Hand recognized nearly a century ago, insofar as Martin stands for the proposition", "paragraphs": [ "para_441", "para_442", "para_443", "para_444" ] }, { "title": "And again, the Supreme Court has reinforced Baggs in the 120 years since it", "paragraphs": [ "para_446", "para_447", "para_448", "para_449", "para_450", "para_451", "para_452", "para_453", "para_454", "para_455", "para_456", "para_457" ] }, { "title": "(instructing that “drive-by jurisdictional rulings,” such as where a court dismisses a", "paragraphs": [ "para_459", "para_460", "para_461" ] }, { "title": "Holbein also asserts that this case is “ill-suited for the exercise of federal", "paragraphs": [ "para_463" ] }, { "title": "Regardless, with rare exception, federal courts “have ‘no more right to decline the", "paragraphs": [ "para_465" ] }, { "title": "Commc’ns, Inc. v. Jacobs, 571 U.S. 69, 77 (2013) (quoting Cohens v. Virginia, 19", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "U.S. (6 Wheat.) 264, 404 (1821)). Congress gave federal courts jurisdiction over this", "paragraphs": [ "para_468" ] }, { "title": "1332(a). And it did not strip that jurisdiction through the forum-defendant rule. See", "paragraphs": [ "para_470", "para_471", "para_472", "para_473" ] }, { "title": "Alternatively, Holbein argues that, even if violation of the forum-defendant", "paragraphs": [ "para_475", "para_476", "para_477", "para_478", "para_479", "para_480", "para_481", "para_482", "para_483" ] }, { "title": "1989) (finding waiver where the plaintiff “participates in the conduct” of the action", "paragraphs": [ "para_485" ] }, { "title": "Farm Constr. Servs., Inc. v. Fudge, 831 F.2d 18, 19, 22 (1st Cir. 1987) (per curiam)", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "(finding waiver after dismissal). At any rate, since 1996, § 1447(c) has required that", "paragraphs": [ "para_488", "para_489", "para_490", "para_491", "para_492" ] }, { "title": "Relatedly, Holbein claims that finding waiver here “would be particularly", "paragraphs": [ "para_494", "para_495", "para_496", "para_497" ] }, { "title": "1992). Even assuming we have discretion to depart from this rule in cases where", "paragraphs": [ "para_499", "para_500", "para_501", "para_502" ] }, { "title": "When Holbein for the first time doubted the existence of jurisdiction at oral argument", "paragraphs": [ "para_504", "para_505", "para_506", "para_507", "para_508", "para_509" ] }, { "title": "Accordingly, we proceed to the merits of the district court’s dismissal of", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Holbein’s first cause of action for retaliatory demotion and discharge in contravention", "paragraphs": [ "para_512", "para_513", "para_514", "para_515", "para_516", "para_517", "para_518" ] }, { "title": "F.3d 972, 976 (8th Cir. 2015). “In making our prediction, we may consider relevant", "paragraphs": [ "para_520", "para_521", "para_522", "para_523" ] }, { "title": "The district court concluded that Holbein’s first cause of action “fail[ed] as a", "paragraphs": [ "para_525" ] }, { "title": "The district court found that Holbein was an at-will employee, id., and Holbein", "paragraphs": [ "para_527", "para_528", "para_529", "para_530" ] }, { "title": "Nebraska Supreme Court has recognized an exception to this rule when an", "paragraphs": [ "para_532" ] }, { "title": "Cornhusker Square Ltd., 416 N.W.2d 510, 515 (Neb. 1987). And it has extended this", "paragraphs": [ "para_534", "para_535", "para_536", "para_537" ] }, { "title": "O’Brien v. Bellevue Pub. Schs., 856 N.W.2d 731, 740 (Neb. 2014) (reiterating this", "paragraphs": [ "para_539", "para_540" ] }, { "title": "We accept the factual allegations in Holbein’s complaint as true and construe", "paragraphs": [ "para_542" ] }, { "title": "(8th Cir. 2020). Holbein alleges TAW Enterprises demoted and constructively", "paragraphs": [ "para_544", "para_545", "para_546", "para_547", "para_548", "para_549", "para_550", "para_551", "para_552", "para_553" ] }, { "title": "To be clear, Holbein does not allege that these provisions of federal law", "paragraphs": [ "para_555", "para_556", "para_557", "para_558", "para_559", "para_560" ] }, { "title": "Dunmire v. Morgan Stanley DW, Inc., 475 F.3d 956, 960 (8th Cir. 2007) (“No private", "paragraphs": [ "para_562", "para_563", "para_564", "para_565", "para_566" ] }, { "title": "It seems the Nebraska Supreme Court has not yet decided whether to extend", "paragraphs": [ "para_568" ] }, { "title": "(recognizing that the plaintiff in that case raised this question in similar circumstances", "paragraphs": [ "para_570", "para_571", "para_572", "para_573", "para_574", "para_575" ] }, { "title": "755, 757-59 (Neb. 1988). The Schriner court indicated, however, that its decision", "paragraphs": [ "para_577", "para_578", "para_579" ] }, { "title": "Ct. App. Sept. 13, 2005) (declining to extend Schriner to situation where employee", "paragraphs": [ "para_581" ] }, { "title": "Therefore, we must predict how the Nebraska Supreme Court would decide this", "paragraphs": [ "para_583" ] }, { "title": "N.W.2d 226 (Neb. 2006), instructive. In Wendeln, a certified nursing assistant", "paragraphs": [ "para_585", "para_586", "para_587" ] }, { "title": "Id. at 232-33, 236. “[A]gree[ing] with the reasoning” in a Wisconsin Supreme Court", "paragraphs": [ "para_589", "para_590" ] }, { "title": "N.W.2d 393 (Wis. 1997)). In endorsing the Hausman court’s reasoning, however, the", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Wendeln court suggested it approved of the line the Wisconsin Supreme Court drew", "paragraphs": [ "para_593", "para_594", "para_595" ] }, { "title": "98); see also Ludlow v. BNSF Ry. Co., No. 4:12CV3113, 2013 WL 3872930, at *23", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "(D. Neb. July 24, 2013) (“[I]n Wendeln the Nebraska Supreme Court expressed", "paragraphs": [ "para_598", "para_599", "para_600" ] }, { "title": "Although it does not appear that the Nebraska Supreme Court has fleshed out", "paragraphs": [ "para_602" ] }, { "title": "Court has. Because the Nebraska Supreme Court has endorsed this principle", "paragraphs": [ "para_604", "para_605" ] }, { "title": "736 F.3d at 613 (“In fashioning [an Erie] prediction, the federal court should consult", "paragraphs": [ "para_607" ] }, { "title": "For our purposes, we find Bushko v. Miller Brewing Co., 396 N.W.2d 167", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "(Wis. 1986), particularly insightful. There, an employee voluntarily reported", "paragraphs": [ "para_610", "para_611", "para_612" ] }, { "title": "168-69. After being fired, he sued his employer, asserting wrongful discharge in", "paragraphs": [ "para_614", "para_615", "para_616", "para_617", "para_618", "para_619", "para_620" ] }, { "title": "The facts in Bushko are similar to the facts in this case. Holbein, “of his own", "paragraphs": [ "para_622", "para_623", "para_624", "para_625", "para_626", "para_627", "para_628" ] }, { "title": "4:06CV3191, 2006 WL 3257184, at *1-2, *1 n.1 (D. Neb. Nov. 9, 2006) (concluding", "paragraphs": [ "para_630", "para_631", "para_632", "para_633", "para_634", "para_635", "para_636", "para_637" ] }, { "title": "Therefore, the district court correctly held that Holbein failed to state a claim as a", "paragraphs": [ "para_639", "para_640", "para_641" ] }, { "title": "For the foregoing reasons, we overrule our decisions in Hurt and Horton to the", "paragraphs": [ "para_643", "para_644" ] }, { "title": "We also conclude that Holbein failed to state a claim as a matter of law for retaliatory", "paragraphs": [ "para_646", "para_647", "para_648", "para_649", "para_650" ] } ], "paragraphs": [ { "text": "United States Court of Appeals", "paragraph_id": "para_1" }, { "text": "For the Eighth Circuit", "paragraph_id": "para_2" }, { "text": "___________________________", "paragraph_id": "para_3" }, { "text": "No. 18-2892", "paragraph_id": "para_4" }, { "text": "___________________________", "paragraph_id": "para_5" }, { "text": "Brendan Holbein", "paragraph_id": "para_6" }, { "text": "lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellant", "paragraph_id": "para_7" }, { "text": "v.", "paragraph_id": "para_8" }, { "text": "TAW Enterprises, Inc., doing business as Baxter Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Bellevue", "paragraph_id": "para_9" }, { "text": "lllllllllllllllllllllDefendants - Appellees", "paragraph_id": "para_10" }, { "text": "____________", "paragraph_id": "para_11" }, { "text": "Appeal from United States District Court", "paragraph_id": "para_12" }, { "text": "for the District of Nebraska - Omaha", "paragraph_id": "para_13" }, { "text": "____________", "paragraph_id": "para_14" }, { "text": "Submitted: October 19, 2020", "paragraph_id": "para_15" }, { "text": "Filed: December 30, 2020", "paragraph_id": "para_16" }, { "text": "____________", "paragraph_id": "para_17" }, { "text": "Before SMITH, Chief Judge, LOKEN, COLLOTON, GRUENDER, BENTON,", "paragraph_id": "para_18" }, { "text": "SHEPHERD, KELLY, ERICKSON, GRASZ, STRAS, and KOBES, Circuit Judges,", "paragraph_id": "para_19" }, { "text": "En Banc.", "paragraph_id": "para_20" }, { "text": "____________", "paragraph_id": "para_21" }, { "text": "GRUENDER, Circuit Judge.", "paragraph_id": "para_22" }, { "text": "Brendan Holbein sued his former employer, TAW Enterprises, Inc., in", "paragraph_id": "para_23" }, { "text": "Nebraska state court. TAW Enterprises removed the action to federal court and", "paragraph_id": "para_24" }, { "text": "moved to dismiss for failure to state a claim. See generally Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6).", "paragraph_id": "para_25" }, { "text": "The district court1 dismissed the action with prejudice. Holbein v. Baxter Chrysler", "paragraph_id": "para_26" }, { "text": "Jeep, Inc., No. 8:18CV222, 2018 WL 9538221 (D. Neb. Aug. 6, 2018). On appeal,", "paragraph_id": "para_27" }, { "text": "a panel of this court vacated the dismissal and ordered the action remanded to state", "paragraph_id": "para_28" }, { "text": "court, concluding that a removal defect left the district court without subject-matter", "paragraph_id": "para_29" }, { "text": "jurisdiction. Holbein v. Baxter Chrysler Jeep, Inc., 948 F.3d 931 (8th Cir. 2020).", "paragraph_id": "para_30" }, { "text": "TAW Enterprises petitioned for rehearing en banc, asking us to reconsider the", "paragraph_id": "para_31" }, { "text": "precedents that dictated the panel’s disposition. See generally id. at 934 (discussing", "paragraph_id": "para_32" }, { "text": "Horton v. Conklin, 431 F.3d 602, 605 (8th Cir. 2005), and Hurt v. Dow Chemical Co.,", "paragraph_id": "para_33" }, { "text": "963 F.2d 1142, 1146 (8th Cir. 1992)). We then vacated the panel opinion and granted", "paragraph_id": "para_34" }, { "text": "rehearing en banc. Order, Holbein v. Baxter Chrysler Jeep, Inc., No. 18-2892 (8th", "paragraph_id": "para_35" }, { "text": "Cir. Mar. 19, 2020). We now overrule those precedents to the extent they hold that", "paragraph_id": "para_36" }, { "text": "a violation of 28 U.S.C. § 1441(b)(2)—the so-called forum-defendant rule, e.g.,", "paragraph_id": "para_37" }, { "text": "Hurley v. Motor Coach Indus., Inc., 222 F.3d 377, 378 (7th Cir. 2000)—is an", "paragraph_id": "para_38" }, { "text": "unwaivable jurisdictional defect in removal. We thus have jurisdiction to reach the", "paragraph_id": "para_39" }, { "text": "merits of Holbein’s appeal. Doing so, we affirm the district court’s dismissal.", "paragraph_id": "para_40" }, { "text": "I.", "paragraph_id": "para_41" }, { "text": "In the fall of 2015, Holbein accepted a position as general manager of TAW", "paragraph_id": "para_42" }, { "text": "Enterprises’ automobile dealership in Bellevue, Nebraska. In June 2016, he learned", "paragraph_id": "para_43" }, { "text": "that customers’ confidential financial information in the possession of TAW", "paragraph_id": "para_44" }, { "text": "Enterprises’ finance director had been stolen. The customers were not informed of", "paragraph_id": "para_45" }, { "text": "this theft. Instead, the finance director “devised a clever method of re-obtaining the", "paragraph_id": "para_46" }, { "text": "financial information” from these customers without informing them that their", "paragraph_id": "para_47" }, { "text": "financial information had been compromised. Holbein subsequently informed TAW", "paragraph_id": "para_48" }, { "text": "Enterprises of this issue as well as other issues regarding TAW Enterprises’ or its", "paragraph_id": "para_49" }, { "text": "employees’ noncompliance with certain provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act", "paragraph_id": "para_50" }, { "text": "1The Honorable Laurie Smith Camp, then Chief Judge, United States District", "paragraph_id": "para_51" }, { "text": "Court for the District of Nebraska, now deceased.", "paragraph_id": "para_52" }, { "text": "-2-", "paragraph_id": "para_53" }, { "text": "(the “Act”), see generally Pub. L. No. 106-102, 113 Stat. 1338 (1999) (codified as", "paragraph_id": "para_54" }, { "text": "amended in scattered sections of 12 U.S.C., 15 U.S.C., 16 U.S.C., 18 U.S.C., and 29", "paragraph_id": "para_55" }, { "text": "U.S.C.), and those provisions’ implementing regulations. In October 2016, TAW", "paragraph_id": "para_56" }, { "text": "Enterprises demoted Holbein, resulting in a sixty-five percent reduction in his", "paragraph_id": "para_57" }, { "text": "compensation. Holbein claimed TAW Enterprises demoted him because of his", "paragraph_id": "para_58" }, { "text": "internal reporting about these matters.", "paragraph_id": "para_59" }, { "text": "In 2018, Holbein (then a citizen of Arizona) sued TAW Enterprises (a", "paragraph_id": "para_60" }, { "text": "Nebraska corporation with its principal place of business there) in Nebraska state", "paragraph_id": "para_61" }, { "text": "court. He asserted two causes of action. The first, labeled as arising under the Act,", "paragraph_id": "para_62" }, { "text": "included two separate “theor[ies]” of recovery, one for “retaliation in contravention", "paragraph_id": "para_63" }, { "text": "of public policy” and the other for “constructive discharge.” The second was for", "paragraph_id": "para_64" }, { "text": "breach of contract. Holbein alleged more than $2.5 million in damages.", "paragraph_id": "para_65" }, { "text": "TAW Enterprises removed the case to federal court, asserting federal-question", "paragraph_id": "para_66" }, { "text": "jurisdiction given Holbein’s reference to the Act in his complaint. See generally 28", "paragraph_id": "para_67" }, { "text": "U.S.C. § 1331. It then moved to dismiss. Holbein did not object to removal, though", "paragraph_id": "para_68" }, { "text": "he opposed dismissal. The district court granted TAW Enterprises’ motion to dismiss", "paragraph_id": "para_69" }, { "text": "with prejudice. Holbein, 2018 WL 9538221, at *5.", "paragraph_id": "para_70" }, { "text": "Holbein appealed, challenging only the district court’s dismissal of his first", "paragraph_id": "para_71" }, { "text": "cause of action. In response to a question at oral argument before the panel, Holbein", "paragraph_id": "para_72" }, { "text": "for the first time indicated he did not believe the district court had subject-matter", "paragraph_id": "para_73" }, { "text": "jurisdiction. Subsequently, the panel held the district court lacked subject-matter", "paragraph_id": "para_74" }, { "text": "jurisdiction, vacated the district court’s dismissal, and ordered the case remanded to", "paragraph_id": "para_75" }, { "text": "state court. Holbein, 948 F.3d 931. The panel found Holbein’s first cause of action", "paragraph_id": "para_76" }, { "text": "did not present a federal question, see id. at 936, leaving diversity jurisdiction under", "paragraph_id": "para_77" }, { "text": "28 U.S.C. § 1332 as the sole potential basis for federal subject-matter jurisdiction, see", "paragraph_id": "para_78" }, { "text": "id. at 934. But, as TAW Enterprises admitted, it could not have removed on this basis", "paragraph_id": "para_79" }, { "text": "because doing so would have violated the forum-defendant rule, 28 U.S.C.", "paragraph_id": "para_80" }, { "text": "-3-", "paragraph_id": "para_81" }, { "text": "§ 1441(b)(2), given that it is a citizen of Nebraska and was sued in Nebraska state", "paragraph_id": "para_82" }, { "text": "court. Under circuit precedent, “violation of the forum-defendant rule is a", "paragraph_id": "para_83" }, { "text": "‘jurisdictional defect.’” Holbein, 948 F.3d at 934 (quoting Horton, 431 F.3d at 605);", "paragraph_id": "para_84" }, { "text": "see also Hurt, 963 F.2d at 1145-46. The district court thus lacked subject-matter", "paragraph_id": "para_85" }, { "text": "jurisdiction over the action. Holbein, 948 F.3d at 936.", "paragraph_id": "para_86" }, { "text": "TAW Enterprises petitioned for rehearing en banc, asking us to reconsider", "paragraph_id": "para_87" }, { "text": "whether violation of the forum-defendant rule is a jurisdictional defect in removal.", "paragraph_id": "para_88" }, { "text": "After receiving Holbein’s response to this petition, we ordered rehearing en banc.2", "paragraph_id": "para_89" }, { "text": "II.", "paragraph_id": "para_90" }, { "text": "Congress has granted defendants sued in state court the right to remove the suit", "paragraph_id": "para_91" }, { "text": "to federal district court if the civil action is one “of which the district courts . . . have", "paragraph_id": "para_92" }, { "text": "original jurisdiction.” 28 U.S.C. § 1441(a). When the action is “removable solely on", "paragraph_id": "para_93" }, { "text": "the basis of the jurisdiction under [§] 1332(a),” however, the forum-defendant rule", "paragraph_id": "para_94" }, { "text": "provides that the action “may not be removed if any of the parties in interest properly", "paragraph_id": "para_95" }, { "text": "joined and served as defendants is a citizen of the State in which such action is", "paragraph_id": "para_96" }, { "text": "brought.” Id. § 1441(b)(2). When an action is removed improperly, the plaintiff may", "paragraph_id": "para_97" }, { "text": "move to have it remanded to state court. See id. § 1447(c). If the motion to remand", "paragraph_id": "para_98" }, { "text": "is based on any removal “defect other than lack of subject matter jurisdiction,” that", "paragraph_id": "para_99" }, { "text": "motion “must be made within 30 days after the filing of the notice of removal.” Id.", "paragraph_id": "para_100" }, { "text": "Otherwise, objections to removal based on such defects are waived. 14C Charles", "paragraph_id": "para_101" }, { "text": "Alan Wright et al., Federal Practice & Procedure § 3739.2 (Rev. 4th ed. 2020). But", "paragraph_id": "para_102" }, { "text": "if the removal defect leaves the district court without subject-matter jurisdiction, that", "paragraph_id": "para_103" }, { "text": "2Because TAW Enterprises did not ask us to reconsider the panel’s holding", "paragraph_id": "para_104" }, { "text": "regarding federal-question jurisdiction, we reinstate that portion of the panel opinion.", "paragraph_id": "para_105" }, { "text": "E.g., Dillard v. O’Kelley, 961 F.3d 1048, 1055 (8th Cir. 2020) (en banc).", "paragraph_id": "para_106" }, { "text": "-4-", "paragraph_id": "para_107" }, { "text": "defect cannot be waived and can be raised at any time, even on appeal. See 28 U.S.C.", "paragraph_id": "para_108" }, { "text": "§ 1447(c); United States v. Afremov, 611 F.3d 970, 975 (8th Cir. 2010).", "paragraph_id": "para_109" }, { "text": "Holbein did not challenge removal until oral argument before the panel. That", "paragraph_id": "para_110" }, { "text": "delay did not matter because, in our circuit, removal in violation of the forum-", "paragraph_id": "para_111" }, { "text": "defendant rule results in “an absence of subject-matter jurisdiction.” Hurt, 963 F.2d", "paragraph_id": "para_112" }, { "text": "at 1146 n.1; see also Horton, 431 F.3d at 605 (reaffirming Hurt). Nine other circuits", "paragraph_id": "para_113" }, { "text": "have addressed whether the forum-defendant rule is jurisdictional in nature. All of", "paragraph_id": "para_114" }, { "text": "them have held that violation of the rule is a nonjurisdictional, and thus waivable,", "paragraph_id": "para_115" }, { "text": "removal defect. Morris v. Nuzzo, 718 F.3d 660, 665 (7th Cir. 2013); Lively v. Wild", "paragraph_id": "para_116" }, { "text": "Oats Mkts., Inc., 456 F.3d 933, 939 (9th Cir. 2006); Handelsman v. Bedford Vill.", "paragraph_id": "para_117" }, { "text": "Assocs. Ltd. P’ship, 213 F.3d 48, 50 n.2 (2d Cir. 2000); Pacheco de Perez v. AT&T", "paragraph_id": "para_118" }, { "text": "Co., 139 F.3d 1368, 1372 n.4 (11th Cir. 1998); Korea Exch. Bank, N.Y. Branch v.", "paragraph_id": "para_119" }, { "text": "Trackwise Sales Corp., 66 F.3d 46, 50 (3d Cir. 1995); In re Shell Oil Co., 932 F.2d", "paragraph_id": "para_120" }, { "text": "1518, 1521-23 (5th Cir. 1991); Moores v. Greenberg, 834 F.2d 1105, 1106 n.1 (1st", "paragraph_id": "para_121" }, { "text": "Cir. 1987); Plastic Moldings Corp. v. Park Sherman Co., 606 F.2d 117, 119 n.1 (6th", "paragraph_id": "para_122" }, { "text": "Cir. 1979); Am. Oil Co. v. McMullin, 433 F.2d 1091, 1093-95 (10th Cir. 1970).", "paragraph_id": "para_123" }, { "text": "We now eliminate this lopsided circuit split and conclude that violation of the", "paragraph_id": "para_124" }, { "text": "forum-defendant rule is a nonjurisdictional defect in removal that is waived if not", "paragraph_id": "para_125" }, { "text": "raised in “[a] motion to remand . . . made within 30 days after the filing of the notice", "paragraph_id": "para_126" }, { "text": "of removal.” See § 1447(c). Holbein did not challenge removal until long after this", "paragraph_id": "para_127" }, { "text": "period had expired, so he has waived TAW Enterprises’ violation of the forum-", "paragraph_id": "para_128" }, { "text": "defendant rule as a basis for remand to state court. In concluding that the forum-", "paragraph_id": "para_129" }, { "text": "defendant rule is nonjurisdictional, first we consider the text of § 1441(a)-(b), then", "paragraph_id": "para_130" }, { "text": "we examine § 1447(c) and its history, and finally we consider precedents relevant to", "paragraph_id": "para_131" }, { "text": "the analysis. See Murphy v. Smith, 583 U.S. ---, 138 S. Ct. 784, 790 (2018) (looking", "paragraph_id": "para_132" }, { "text": "at “the full field of textual, contextual, and precedential evidence” to interpret a", "paragraph_id": "para_133" }, { "text": "statute).", "paragraph_id": "para_134" }, { "text": "-5-", "paragraph_id": "para_135" }, { "text": "A.", "paragraph_id": "para_136" }, { "text": "Whether the forum-defendant rule is jurisdictional ultimately turns on “whether", "paragraph_id": "para_137" }, { "text": "Congress mandated” it be treated as such. See Henderson ex rel. Henderson v.", "paragraph_id": "para_138" }, { "text": "Shinseki, 562 U.S. 428, 435 (2011). The question before us, then, is principally one", "paragraph_id": "para_139" }, { "text": "of statutory interpretation. Accordingly, as in any statutory-interpretation case, “we", "paragraph_id": "para_140" }, { "text": "start . . . with the statutory text.” Liscomb v. Boyce, 954 F.3d 1151, 1154 (8th Cir.", "paragraph_id": "para_141" }, { "text": "2020); accord Henderson, 562 U.S. at 438.", "paragraph_id": "para_142" }, { "text": "In § 1441(a), Congress gave defendants the right to remove from state to", "paragraph_id": "para_143" }, { "text": "federal court “any civil action brought in a State court of which the district courts of", "paragraph_id": "para_144" }, { "text": "the United States have original jurisdiction,” “[e]xcept as otherwise expressly", "paragraph_id": "para_145" }, { "text": "provided by Act of Congress.” Congress provided otherwise in the forum-defendant", "paragraph_id": "para_146" }, { "text": "rule by prohibiting removal of a “civil action otherwise removable solely on the basis", "paragraph_id": "para_147" }, { "text": "of the jurisdiction under [§] 1332(a) . . . if any of the parties in interest properly", "paragraph_id": "para_148" }, { "text": "joined and served as defendants is a citizen of the State in which such action is", "paragraph_id": "para_149" }, { "text": "brought.” § 1441(b)(2).", "paragraph_id": "para_150" }, { "text": "Unlike other statutory provisions that unequivocally govern district-court", "paragraph_id": "para_151" }, { "text": "jurisdiction, e.g., 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (granting “original jurisdiction” over federal-", "paragraph_id": "para_152" }, { "text": "question cases), neither § 1441(a) nor § 1441(b)(2) “speak in jurisdictional terms,”", "paragraph_id": "para_153" }, { "text": "suggesting Congress did not mean for them to have “jurisdictional attributes,” see", "paragraph_id": "para_154" }, { "text": "Henderson, 562 U.S. at 438 (internal quotation marks omitted). The text of the", "paragraph_id": "para_155" }, { "text": "forum-defendant rule reinforces this point, as it recognizes that jurisdiction over", "paragraph_id": "para_156" }, { "text": "removed cases does not come from § 1441(a) but elsewhere. See § 1441(b)(2)", "paragraph_id": "para_157" }, { "text": "(referring to removability “on the basis of the jurisdiction under [§] 1332(a)”).", "paragraph_id": "para_158" }, { "text": "Thus, § 1441(a) on its face is not a jurisdiction-granting provision, and", "paragraph_id": "para_159" }, { "text": "§ 1441(b)(2) on its face is not a jurisdiction-stripping provision. Instead, § 1441(a)", "paragraph_id": "para_160" }, { "text": "gives certain state-court defendants access to a federal forum that already possesses", "paragraph_id": "para_161" }, { "text": "-6-", "paragraph_id": "para_162" }, { "text": "subject-matter jurisdiction over the type of action being removed. The forum-", "paragraph_id": "para_163" }, { "text": "defendant rule, in turn, narrows the class of defendants who are entitled to exercise", "paragraph_id": "para_164" }, { "text": "this right. Simply put, the rule strips forum defendants of the statutory right to", "paragraph_id": "para_165" }, { "text": "remove; it does not strip district courts of jurisdiction they otherwise have to", "paragraph_id": "para_166" }, { "text": "adjudicate the sorts of actions forum defendants might attempt to remove.", "paragraph_id": "para_167" }, { "text": "It is true that courts sometimes have referred to § 1441(a) as “grant[ing]", "paragraph_id": "para_168" }, { "text": "removal jurisdiction.” Watson v. Cartee, 817 F.3d 299, 303 (6th Cir. 2016); see also", "paragraph_id": "para_169" }, { "text": "Franchise Tax Bd. of Cal. v. Constr. Laborers Vacation Tr. for S. Cal., 463 U.S. 1,", "paragraph_id": "para_170" }, { "text": "7 (1983) (mentioning “the removal jurisdiction conferred by 28 U.S.C. § 1441”).", "paragraph_id": "para_171" }, { "text": "And if § 1441(a) grants “removal jurisdiction,” then § 1441(b)(2) narrows that", "paragraph_id": "para_172" }, { "text": "jurisdiction, so it also is jurisdictional. This was the seemingly straightforward logic", "paragraph_id": "para_173" }, { "text": "we followed in Hurt to hold that the forum-defendant rule was jurisdictional. See 963", "paragraph_id": "para_174" }, { "text": "F.2d at 1145.", "paragraph_id": "para_175" }, { "text": "“Removal jurisdiction,” however, is something of a misnomer.3 “[R]emoval", "paragraph_id": "para_176" }, { "text": "is not a kind of jurisdiction,” Wright, supra, § 3721, and “[t]he removal statute does", "paragraph_id": "para_177" }, { "text": "not in itself create jurisdiction,” Danca v. Private Health Care Sys., Inc., 185 F.3d 1,", "paragraph_id": "para_178" }, { "text": "4 (1st Cir. 1999). Removal is a “statutory right,” Lewis v. Rego Co., 757 F.2d 66, 68", "paragraph_id": "para_179" }, { "text": "(3d Cir. 1985); see also Little York Gold Washing & Water Co. v. Keyes, 96 U.S. 199,", "paragraph_id": "para_180" }, { "text": "201 (1877), or “privilege,” Cont’l Cablevision of St. Paul, Inc. v. U.S. Postal Serv.,", "paragraph_id": "para_181" }, { "text": "945 F.2d 1434, 1435 (8th Cir. 1991); see also Chi., Rock Island & Pac. R.R. Co. v.", "paragraph_id": "para_182" }, { "text": "3The only circumstances in which it might make sense to retain the term", "paragraph_id": "para_183" }, { "text": "“removal jurisdiction” are those where “Congress enacted a grant of jurisdiction", "paragraph_id": "para_184" }, { "text": "available only upon removal, rather than conferring a right to remove litigation that,", "paragraph_id": "para_185" }, { "text": "by virtue of some other grant of jurisdiction, initially could have been filed in federal", "paragraph_id": "para_186" }, { "text": "court.” Wright, supra, § 3721; see, e.g., Johnson v. Showers, 747 F.2d 1228, 1229", "paragraph_id": "para_187" }, { "text": "(8th Cir. 1984) (“Section 1442 itself grants independent jurisdictional grounds over", "paragraph_id": "para_188" }, { "text": "cases involving federal officers where a district court otherwise would not have", "paragraph_id": "para_189" }, { "text": "jurisdiction.” (internal quotation marks omitted)).", "paragraph_id": "para_190" }, { "text": "-7-", "paragraph_id": "para_191" }, { "text": "Stude, 346 U.S. 574, 580 (1954). It gives certain defendants a choice of forum", "paragraph_id": "para_192" }, { "text": "between two courts, each of which already has subject-matter jurisdiction over the", "paragraph_id": "para_193" }, { "text": "type of action. It would conflate categories to treat a district court’s separately", "paragraph_id": "para_194" }, { "text": "granted subject-matter jurisdiction as dependent on a defendant’s right to remove.", "paragraph_id": "para_195" }, { "text": "See Grupo Dataflux v. Atlas Glob. Grp., L.P., 541 U.S. 567, 574 (2004) (recognizing", "paragraph_id": "para_196" }, { "text": "that unauthorized removal under § 1441(a) results in a “statutory defect” rather than", "paragraph_id": "para_197" }, { "text": "a “jurisdictional defect”).", "paragraph_id": "para_198" }, { "text": "Similarly, the forum-defendant rule is a “privilege,” albeit one “granted to the", "paragraph_id": "para_199" }, { "text": "plaintiff.” See Strother v. Union Pac. R.R. Co., 220 F. 731, 733 (W.D. Mo. 1915)", "paragraph_id": "para_200" }, { "text": "(referring to the prohibition on removal now codified at 28 U.S.C. § 1445(a)). It", "paragraph_id": "para_201" }, { "text": "exists to “preserve the plaintiff’s choice of a (state) forum, under circumstances where", "paragraph_id": "para_202" }, { "text": "it is arguably less urgent to provide a federal forum to prevent prejudice.” Hurley,", "paragraph_id": "para_203" }, { "text": "222 F.3d at 380; see also Hertz Corp. v. Friend, 559 U.S. 77, 85 (2010) (identifying", "paragraph_id": "para_204" }, { "text": "“diversity jurisdiction’s basic rationale” as “opening the federal courts’ doors to those", "paragraph_id": "para_205" }, { "text": "who might otherwise suffer from local prejudice against out-of-state parties”). Like", "paragraph_id": "para_206" }, { "text": "the right to remove in § 1441(a) itself, the forum-defendant rule, as a limitation on", "paragraph_id": "para_207" }, { "text": "that right, is nonjurisdictional. Cf. Carpenter v. Balt. & Ohio R.R. Co., 109 F.2d 375,", "paragraph_id": "para_208" }, { "text": "379-80 (6th Cir. 1940) (referring to the prohibition on removal now codified at 28", "paragraph_id": "para_209" }, { "text": "U.S.C. § 1445(a) as a “personal privilege” that “may be waived”).", "paragraph_id": "para_210" }, { "text": "The location of § 1441 within the Judicial Code, Title 28 U.S.C., corroborates", "paragraph_id": "para_211" }, { "text": "this nonjurisdictional understanding. See Henderson, 562 U.S. at 439 (considering", "paragraph_id": "para_212" }, { "text": "a provision’s placement within the session law in which it was enacted to determine", "paragraph_id": "para_213" }, { "text": "if “Congress wanted that provision to be treated as having jurisdictional attributes”).", "paragraph_id": "para_214" }, { "text": "In 1911, Congress organized under one title “many of the statutes defining and", "paragraph_id": "para_215" }, { "text": "regulating the jurisdiction and procedure of the federal courts, including those", "paragraph_id": "para_216" }, { "text": "regulating removals.” Williams v. N.Y., Phila. & Norfolk R.R. Co., 11 F.2d 363, 365", "paragraph_id": "para_217" }, { "text": "(4th Cir. 1926). In that enactment, Congress placed the provisions governing district-", "paragraph_id": "para_218" }, { "text": "court “jurisdiction” in one chapter, see Act of Mar. 3, 1911, ch. 2, 36 Stat. 1087,", "paragraph_id": "para_219" }, { "text": "-8-", "paragraph_id": "para_220" }, { "text": "1091-94, while it placed the provisions governing “removal of causes” in another, see", "paragraph_id": "para_221" }, { "text": "id., ch. 3, 36 Stat. at 1094-99. In 1948, Congress recodified the Judicial Code. See", "paragraph_id": "para_222" }, { "text": "20 Charles Alan Wright & Mary Kay Kane, Federal Practice & Procedure Deskbook", "paragraph_id": "para_223" }, { "text": "§ 1 (2d ed. 2019). In doing so, Congress retained the separation of the provisions", "paragraph_id": "para_224" }, { "text": "governing the “jurisdiction” of the district courts, see Act of June 25, 1948, ch. 85,", "paragraph_id": "para_225" }, { "text": "62 Stat. 869, 930-35, from the provisions governing the “removal of cases from state", "paragraph_id": "para_226" }, { "text": "courts,” see id., ch. 89, 62 Stat. at 937-40. This organization remains the same today.", "paragraph_id": "para_227" }, { "text": "The fact “Congress elected not to place” § 1441 in the chapter governing district-", "paragraph_id": "para_228" }, { "text": "court jurisdiction is an additional “indication of Congress’ intent” that the forum-", "paragraph_id": "para_229" }, { "text": "defendant rule be nonjurisdictional. See Henderson, 562 U.S. at 439-40.", "paragraph_id": "para_230" }, { "text": "B.", "paragraph_id": "para_231" }, { "text": "The statutory history of what is now § 1447(c) provides further support for the", "paragraph_id": "para_232" }, { "text": "nonjurisdictional view. See United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649, 653-54", "paragraph_id": "para_233" }, { "text": "(1898) (“In construing any act of legislation . . . regard is to be had . . . to the history", "paragraph_id": "para_234" }, { "text": "of the law as previously existing, and in the light of which the new act must be read", "paragraph_id": "para_235" }, { "text": "and interpreted.”); BNSF Ry. Co. v. Loos, 586 U.S. ---, 139 S. Ct. 893, 906 (2019)", "paragraph_id": "para_236" }, { "text": "(Gorsuch, J., dissenting) (recognizing that “statutory history,” unlike “unenacted", "paragraph_id": "para_237" }, { "text": "legislative history,” is “the sort of textual evidence everyone agrees can sometimes", "paragraph_id": "para_238" }, { "text": "shed light on meaning”).", "paragraph_id": "para_239" }, { "text": "The relevant predecessor to § 1447(c) first appeared in the 1948 recodification", "paragraph_id": "para_240" }, { "text": "of the Judicial Code. Act of June 25, 1948, ch. 89, § 1447(e), 62 Stat. at 939; see also", "paragraph_id": "para_241" }, { "text": "Act of May 24, 1949, ch. 139, § 84, 63 Stat. 89, 102 (moving this provision to", "paragraph_id": "para_242" }, { "text": "§ 1447(c) but otherwise leaving it unchanged). The provision required that “[i]f at", "paragraph_id": "para_243" }, { "text": "any time before final judgment it appears that the case was removed improvidently", "paragraph_id": "para_244" }, { "text": "and without jurisdiction, the district court shall remand the case.” Act of June 25,", "paragraph_id": "para_245" }, { "text": "1948, ch. 89, § 1447(e), 62 Stat. at 939. “Although the statutory phrases ‘removed", "paragraph_id": "para_246" }, { "text": "improvidently’ and ‘without jurisdiction’ were joined with the conjunction ‘and,’", "paragraph_id": "para_247" }, { "text": "-9-", "paragraph_id": "para_248" }, { "text": "courts and commentators consistently interpreted the provisions in the disjunctive,", "paragraph_id": "para_249" }, { "text": "thus establishing two independent grounds for remand.” Snapper, Inc. v. Redan, 171", "paragraph_id": "para_250" }, { "text": "F.3d 1249, 1254 n.7 (11th Cir. 1999) (collecting authorities); see also Rothner v. City", "paragraph_id": "para_251" }, { "text": "of Chicago, 879 F.2d 1402, 1406 (7th Cir. 1989) (explaining why the phrases “must", "paragraph_id": "para_252" }, { "text": "be read in the disjunctive”).", "paragraph_id": "para_253" }, { "text": "The first ground, for “improvident” removals, applied to removals in which", "paragraph_id": "para_254" }, { "text": "“one of the statutory, non-jurisdictional requirements for removal” was not satisfied.", "paragraph_id": "para_255" }, { "text": "In re Merrimack Mut. Fire Ins., 587 F.2d 642, 647 n.8 (5th Cir. 1978). One such", "paragraph_id": "para_256" }, { "text": "statutory, nonjurisdictional requirement was the forum-defendant rule. E.g., In re", "paragraph_id": "para_257" }, { "text": "Estate of Sellers, 657 F. Supp. 168, 171 (W.D. Wash. 1987); Schwarz v. Hosp. Corp.", "paragraph_id": "para_258" }, { "text": "of Am., 636 F. Supp. 276, 278-79 (S.D. Fla. 1986); Unanue v. Caribbean Canneries,", "paragraph_id": "para_259" }, { "text": "Inc., 323 F. Supp. 63, 65-66 (D. Del. 1971).", "paragraph_id": "para_260" }, { "text": "Congress amended § 1447(c) in 1988. See Judicial Improvements and Access", "paragraph_id": "para_261" }, { "text": "to Justice Act, Pub. L. No. 100-702, § 1016(c)(1), 102 Stat. 4642, 4670 (1988). It", "paragraph_id": "para_262" }, { "text": "jettisoned the conjunctive phrase “removed improvidently and without jurisdiction,”", "paragraph_id": "para_263" }, { "text": "separated these removal defects more clearly into two distinct categories, and", "paragraph_id": "para_264" }, { "text": "modified the time in which these defects could be raised as a basis for remand. See", "paragraph_id": "para_265" }, { "text": "id. As amended, the statute required that a “defect in removal procedure” be raised", "paragraph_id": "para_266" }, { "text": "within thirty days after the filing of the notice of removal, whereas it required that the", "paragraph_id": "para_267" }, { "text": "action be remanded “[i]f at any time before final judgment it appears that the district", "paragraph_id": "para_268" }, { "text": "court lacks subject matter jurisdiction.” Id.", "paragraph_id": "para_269" }, { "text": "Considering the effect of this amendment, courts concluded that “the ‘removed", "paragraph_id": "para_270" }, { "text": "improvidently’ language of pre-1988 section 1447(c) was replaced, without intent to", "paragraph_id": "para_271" }, { "text": "change the meaning, with the ‘defect in removal procedure’” language. See In re", "paragraph_id": "para_272" }, { "text": "Medscope Marine Ltd., 972 F.2d 107, 109-10 (5th Cir. 1992). Thus, consistently with", "paragraph_id": "para_273" }, { "text": "the pre-1988 view that violating the forum-defendant rule rendered removal", "paragraph_id": "para_274" }, { "text": "improvident, courts post-1988 generally viewed such violations as a nonjurisdictional", "paragraph_id": "para_275" }, { "text": "-10-", "paragraph_id": "para_276" }, { "text": "“defect in removal procedure.” E.g., Korea Exch. Bank, N.Y. Branch, 66 F.3d at 50;", "paragraph_id": "para_277" }, { "text": "see also Baris v. Sulpicio Lines, Inc., 932 F.2d 1540, 1544 (5th Cir. 1991) (“As used", "paragraph_id": "para_278" }, { "text": "in [§ 1447(c)], a ‘procedural’ defect is any defect that does not go to the question of", "paragraph_id": "para_279" }, { "text": "whether the case originally could have been brought in federal district court . . . .”).", "paragraph_id": "para_280" }, { "text": "The “removal procedure” language, however, proved troublesome. Snapper,", "paragraph_id": "para_281" }, { "text": "171 F.3d at 1257-58. Some removals, after all, violated “substantive” removal", "paragraph_id": "para_282" }, { "text": "provisions like the forum-defendant rule rather than “clearly . . . procedural” removal", "paragraph_id": "para_283" }, { "text": "provisions like those found in § 1446. See In re Shell Oil Co., 932 F.2d at 1522. This", "paragraph_id": "para_284" }, { "text": "linguistic discordance, along with § 1447(c)’s dichotomy between “procedural” and", "paragraph_id": "para_285" }, { "text": "“jurisdictional” defects, led us in 1992 to place the “substantive” forum-defendant", "paragraph_id": "para_286" }, { "text": "rule on the jurisdictional side of the divide. See Hurt, 963 F.2d at 1146 n.1", "paragraph_id": "para_287" }, { "text": "(distinguishing a prior-panel precedent on the basis that the removal defect there was", "paragraph_id": "para_288" }, { "text": "“procedural,” unlike the “jurisdictional” defect at issue in Hurt); Snapper, 171 F.3d", "paragraph_id": "para_289" }, { "text": "at 1258 (noting how, in Hurt, we refused to take “an expansive view of the term", "paragraph_id": "para_290" }, { "text": "‘procedure’”).", "paragraph_id": "para_291" }, { "text": "In 1996, Congress again amended § 1447(c). See An Act to Clarify the Rules", "paragraph_id": "para_292" }, { "text": "Governing Removal of Cases to Federal Court, and for Other Purposes, Pub. L. No.", "paragraph_id": "para_293" }, { "text": "104-219, § 1, 110 Stat. 3022, 3022 (1996). Congress struck “any defect in removal", "paragraph_id": "para_294" }, { "text": "procedure” and substituted in its place “any defect other than lack of subject matter", "paragraph_id": "para_295" }, { "text": "jurisdiction.” Id. “[B]y substituting ‘defect other than lack of subject matter", "paragraph_id": "para_296" }, { "text": "jurisdiction’ for ‘defect in removal procedure,’ Congress sought to ensure that even", "paragraph_id": "para_297" }, { "text": "the ‘more substantive’ removal defects, such as § 1441(b) violations, were subject to", "paragraph_id": "para_298" }, { "text": "the 30-day time limit.” Lively, 456 F.3d at 939; see also David D. Siegel,", "paragraph_id": "para_299" }, { "text": "Commentary on the 1996 Revision of Section 1447(c) (West. Supp. 1996) (noting that", "paragraph_id": "para_300" }, { "text": "this amendment clarified that the forum-defendant rule was not jurisdictional).", "paragraph_id": "para_301" }, { "text": "Notably, in reaffirming Hurt in 2005, we did not address the 1996 amendment’s", "paragraph_id": "para_302" }, { "text": "significance. See Horton, 431 F.3d at 604-05 (quoting the “defect in removal", "paragraph_id": "para_303" }, { "text": "procedure” language from the 1988 amendment before discussing Hurt).", "paragraph_id": "para_304" }, { "text": "-11-", "paragraph_id": "para_305" }, { "text": "In sum, the statutory history of § 1447(c) further demonstrates that Congress", "paragraph_id": "para_306" }, { "text": "did not rank the forum-defendant rule as jurisdictional.", "paragraph_id": "para_307" }, { "text": "C.", "paragraph_id": "para_308" }, { "text": "Longstanding judicial understanding of the nature of the forum-defendant rule", "paragraph_id": "para_309" }, { "text": "also is a relevant consideration in determining whether Congress intended for it to", "paragraph_id": "para_310" }, { "text": "carry jurisdictional consequences. See Henderson, 562 U.S. at 436 (“When a long", "paragraph_id": "para_311" }, { "text": "line of this Court’s decisions left undisturbed by Congress has treated a . . .", "paragraph_id": "para_312" }, { "text": "requirement as jurisdictional, we will presume that Congress intended to follow that", "paragraph_id": "para_313" }, { "text": "course.” (internal quotation marks and citations omitted)). If we were confronted", "paragraph_id": "para_314" }, { "text": "with, say, “a century’s worth of precedent and practice in American courts” treating", "paragraph_id": "para_315" }, { "text": "the rule as jurisdictional, that jurisprudential tradition could be dispositive. See", "paragraph_id": "para_316" }, { "text": "Bowles v. Russell, 551 U.S. 205, 209 n.2 (2007) (maintaining the view that the", "paragraph_id": "para_317" }, { "text": "statutory timeframe in which a notice of appeal must be filed is jurisdictional given", "paragraph_id": "para_318" }, { "text": "longstanding precedent and practice to that effect). However, while initially the rule", "paragraph_id": "para_319" }, { "text": "was viewed as jurisdictional, since 1900 the nonjurisdictional view of the forum-", "paragraph_id": "para_320" }, { "text": "defendant rule (and similar provisions governing removal) has predominated in", "paragraph_id": "para_321" }, { "text": "American courts. Thus, the jurisprudential tradition relevant here bolsters the", "paragraph_id": "para_322" }, { "text": "foregoing textual and contextual considerations.", "paragraph_id": "para_323" }, { "text": "Congress first enacted the forum-defendant rule in 1887. See Act of Mar. 3,", "paragraph_id": "para_324" }, { "text": "1887, ch. 373, § 1, 24 Stat. 552, 553; see also Act of Aug. 13, 1888, ch. 866, § 1, 25", "paragraph_id": "para_325" }, { "text": "Stat. 433, 434 (fixing typographical errors in the text of the rule but otherwise leaving", "paragraph_id": "para_326" }, { "text": "it unchanged). The 1887 version provided that specified cases “may be removed into", "paragraph_id": "para_327" }, { "text": "the circuit court of the United States for the proper district by the defendant or", "paragraph_id": "para_328" }, { "text": "defendants therein being non-residents of that State.” Act of Mar. 3, 1887, ch. 373,", "paragraph_id": "para_329" }, { "text": "§ 1, 24 Stat. at 553. At the time, the Supreme Court generally viewed the substantive", "paragraph_id": "para_330" }, { "text": "“conditions” to removal as “indispensable” prerequisites. See Gerling v. Balt. & Ohio", "paragraph_id": "para_331" }, { "text": "-12-", "paragraph_id": "para_332" }, { "text": "R.R. Co., 151 U.S. 673, 689 (1894); cf. Ex parte Pa. Co., 137 U.S. 451, 454 (1890)", "paragraph_id": "para_333" }, { "text": "(noting that the “general object” of the 1887 act was “to contract the jurisdiction of", "paragraph_id": "para_334" }, { "text": "the federal courts”). Unsurprisingly, then, when a case removed in violation of the", "paragraph_id": "para_335" }, { "text": "forum-defendant rule came before the Court during that period of time, the Court", "paragraph_id": "para_336" }, { "text": "noted the violation, concluded summarily that the judgment below had to “be", "paragraph_id": "para_337" }, { "text": "reversed for want of jurisdiction,” and ordered the case remanded to state court.", "paragraph_id": "para_338" }, { "text": "Martin v. Snyder, 148 U.S. 663, 663-64 (1893).", "paragraph_id": "para_339" }, { "text": "Less than a decade later, the Court abandoned this jurisdictional view of the", "paragraph_id": "para_340" }, { "text": "substantive prerequisites to removal. See Baggs v. Martin, 179 U.S. 206 (1900). In", "paragraph_id": "para_341" }, { "text": "Baggs, the plaintiffs brought a state-law claim in Colorado state court against a", "paragraph_id": "para_342" }, { "text": "federal-court-appointed receiver, in his capacity as receiver, for a Colorado railroad.", "paragraph_id": "para_343" }, { "text": "Id. at 207. The receiver removed to federal court, asserting the right to remove due", "paragraph_id": "para_344" }, { "text": "to the presence of a federal question (namely, his status as a federal-court-appointed", "paragraph_id": "para_345" }, { "text": "receiver) and claiming the state action was “ancillary” to the federal action in which", "paragraph_id": "para_346" }, { "text": "he had been appointed receiver. Id. The case proceeded to trial, and the plaintiffs", "paragraph_id": "para_347" }, { "text": "prevailed. Id. at 207-08. The receiver appealed, and we certified two questions to the", "paragraph_id": "para_348" }, { "text": "Supreme Court: (1) whether the receiver had the right to remove the case; and", "paragraph_id": "para_349" }, { "text": "(2) whether, even if not, the federal court “acquire[d] lawful jurisdiction” by virtue", "paragraph_id": "para_350" }, { "text": "of the uncontested removal. Id. at 208. The Court expressed doubt that removal was", "paragraph_id": "para_351" }, { "text": "permitted, but it declined to answer that question.4 Id. Instead, it answered only the", "paragraph_id": "para_352" }, { "text": "second question, finding that the federal court “plainly had jurisdiction” given the", "paragraph_id": "para_353" }, { "text": "nature of the action (it was ancillary to the federal action) and holding that the", "paragraph_id": "para_354" }, { "text": "(presumably) unauthorized removal did not vitiate or preclude the exercise of that", "paragraph_id": "para_355" }, { "text": "subject-matter jurisdiction. Id. at 209.", "paragraph_id": "para_356" }, { "text": "4A week later, the Court held that status as a federal-court-appointed receiver", "paragraph_id": "para_357" }, { "text": "did not constitute a federal question triggering a right to remove. Gableman v.", "paragraph_id": "para_358" }, { "text": "Peoria, Decatur & Evansville Ry. Co., 179 U.S. 335, 340 (1900).", "paragraph_id": "para_359" }, { "text": "-13-", "paragraph_id": "para_360" }, { "text": "The upshot of Baggs was that even “wholly unauthorized” removal did not", "paragraph_id": "para_361" }, { "text": "pose a jurisdictional problem so long as the action could have been filed initially in", "paragraph_id": "para_362" }, { "text": "federal court. See B.C. Moon, The Removal of Causes from the Courts of the Several", "paragraph_id": "para_363" }, { "text": "States to the Circuit Courts of the United States 637 (1901). That is, if the federal", "paragraph_id": "para_364" }, { "text": "court to which the case was removed had subject-matter jurisdiction over “a case of", "paragraph_id": "para_365" }, { "text": "that character,” it “could retain jurisdiction” even if there was “no fundamental right", "paragraph_id": "para_366" }, { "text": "to remove.” Phila. & Bos. Face Brick Co. v. Warford, 123 F. 843, 843-44 (C.C.D.", "paragraph_id": "para_367" }, { "text": "Mass. 1902); see also Toledo, St. Louis & W. R.R. Co. v. Perenchio, 205 F. 472, 475", "paragraph_id": "para_368" }, { "text": "(7th Cir. 1913) (reading Baggs to mean that unauthorized removal did not amount to", "paragraph_id": "para_369" }, { "text": "a jurisdictional defect “inasmuch as the subject-matter was within the lawful authority", "paragraph_id": "para_370" }, { "text": "of the federal court to hear and decide”).", "paragraph_id": "para_371" }, { "text": "The Sixth Circuit then applied this logic to violations of the forum-defendant", "paragraph_id": "para_372" }, { "text": "rule. See Handley-Mack Co. v. Godchaux Sugar Co., 2 F.2d 435 (6th Cir. 1924). In", "paragraph_id": "para_373" }, { "text": "Handley-Mack, the court recognized that Martin “implied” that the rule was", "paragraph_id": "para_374" }, { "text": "jurisdictional, but it found “no holding of the Supreme Court” to this effect. Id. at", "paragraph_id": "para_375" }, { "text": "437 (observing that Martin may have been an instance in which “the term", "paragraph_id": "para_376" }, { "text": "‘jurisdiction’ was used less strictly than it latterly has been”); see also Bush v. United", "paragraph_id": "para_377" }, { "text": "States, 939 F.3d 839, 843 (7th Cir. 2019) (“The Justices have acknowledged that in", "paragraph_id": "para_378" }, { "text": "earlier years they used the word ‘jurisdiction’ loosely . . . .”). It then looked to Baggs", "paragraph_id": "para_379" }, { "text": "to reason that jurisdiction could “be retained where, as here, although the case was", "paragraph_id": "para_380" }, { "text": "not technically removable under the statute, the court yet had jurisdiction over the", "paragraph_id": "para_381" }, { "text": "subject-matter of the controversy, and the parties had fully consented to the federal", "paragraph_id": "para_382" }, { "text": "jurisdiction and acted thereunder.” Handley-Mack, 2 F.2d at 437. A few years later,", "paragraph_id": "para_383" }, { "text": "the Second Circuit subscribed to this reasoning, concluding that Baggs “overruled”", "paragraph_id": "para_384" }, { "text": "Martin. Bailey v. Texas Co., 47 F.2d 153, 155 (2d Cir. 1931) (L. Hand, J.).", "paragraph_id": "para_385" }, { "text": "The Supreme Court lent credence to this view when it cited Baggs alongside", "paragraph_id": "para_386" }, { "text": "Bailey, Handley-Mack, and Perenchio as support for the proposition that the absence", "paragraph_id": "para_387" }, { "text": "of a “right to removal” does not pose a jurisdictional problem so long as the district", "paragraph_id": "para_388" }, { "text": "-14-", "paragraph_id": "para_389" }, { "text": "court “would have had original jurisdiction” over the removed action. Am. Fire &", "paragraph_id": "para_390" }, { "text": "Cas. Co. v. Finn, 341 U.S. 6, 16 & n.14 (1951); see also Woodward v. D.H. Overmyer", "paragraph_id": "para_391" }, { "text": "Co., 428 F.2d 880, 883 (2d Cir. 1970) (noting that the Finn Court cited Bailey and", "paragraph_id": "para_392" }, { "text": "Handley-Mack “with what could be regarded as approval and certainly was not", "paragraph_id": "para_393" }, { "text": "disapproval”). By this point, the conventional wisdom was that Baggs had", "paragraph_id": "para_394" }, { "text": "“displace[d]” Martin, meaning unauthorized removal was to be treated as a “[m]ere", "paragraph_id": "para_395" }, { "text": "irregularity” that did not have jurisdictional consequences provided the action could", "paragraph_id": "para_396" }, { "text": "have been brought originally in federal district court. See Finn, 341 U.S. at 19 & n.1", "paragraph_id": "para_397" }, { "text": "(Douglas, J., dissenting). The Court later made clear it agreed with this view when,", "paragraph_id": "para_398" }, { "text": "in Grubbs v. General Electric Credit Corp., it relied on Baggs (among other", "paragraph_id": "para_399" }, { "text": "authorities) to conclude that, when an action is removed without statutory", "paragraph_id": "para_400" }, { "text": "authorization to remove but removal goes unchallenged before the district court, the", "paragraph_id": "para_401" }, { "text": "issue on appeal “is not whether the case was properly removed, but whether the", "paragraph_id": "para_402" }, { "text": "federal district court would have had original jurisdiction of the case had it been filed", "paragraph_id": "para_403" }, { "text": "in that court.” 405 U.S. 699, 702 (1972).", "paragraph_id": "para_404" }, { "text": "As noted above, nine of our sister circuits have followed this logic and", "paragraph_id": "para_405" }, { "text": "concluded that the forum-defendant rule is nonjurisdictional. Accord Noethe v.", "paragraph_id": "para_406" }, { "text": "Mann, 27 F.2d 451, 452 (D. Minn. 1928). Additionally, outside of Hurt and Horton,", "paragraph_id": "para_407" }, { "text": "we have done the same for comparable prohibitions on removal. For example, in", "paragraph_id": "para_408" }, { "text": "1910, Congress prohibited removal of Federal Employers’ Liability Act suits brought", "paragraph_id": "para_409" }, { "text": "in state court. See Act of Apr. 5, 1910, ch. 143, § 1, 36 Stat. 291, 291. Early on, we", "paragraph_id": "para_410" }, { "text": "viewed this prohibition as nonjurisdictional. Jacobson v. Chi., Milwaukee, St. Paul", "paragraph_id": "para_411" }, { "text": "& Pac. R.R. Co., 66 F.2d 688, 693-94 (8th Cir. 1933). After Congress amended this", "paragraph_id": "para_412" }, { "text": "provision and moved it to 28 U.S.C. § 1445(a), see Act of June 25, 1948, ch. 89,", "paragraph_id": "para_413" }, { "text": "§ 1445(a), 62 Stat. at 939, we held as much, see In re Norfolk S. Ry. Co., 592 F.3d", "paragraph_id": "para_414" }, { "text": "907, 912 (8th Cir. 2010). Similarly, in 1958, Congress prescribed that “[a] civil", "paragraph_id": "para_415" }, { "text": "action in any State court arising under the workmen’s compensation laws of such", "paragraph_id": "para_416" }, { "text": "State may not be removed to any district court of the United States.” Act of July 25,", "paragraph_id": "para_417" }, { "text": "1958, Pub. L. No. 85-554, § 5, 72 Stat. 415, 415 (codified at 28 U.S.C. § 1445(c)).", "paragraph_id": "para_418" }, { "text": "-15-", "paragraph_id": "para_419" }, { "text": "We also found this prohibition on removal to be nonjurisdictional. See Bloom v.", "paragraph_id": "para_420" }, { "text": "Metro Heart Grp. of St. Louis, Inc., 440 F.3d 1025, 1031 n.2 (8th Cir. 2006).", "paragraph_id": "para_421" }, { "text": "In short, over “a century’s worth of precedent and practice in American courts,”", "paragraph_id": "para_422" }, { "text": "see Bowles, 551 U.S. at 209 n.2, including our own (Hurt and Horton aside), supports", "paragraph_id": "para_423" }, { "text": "the nonjurisdictional view of the forum-defendant rule. This means that text, context,", "paragraph_id": "para_424" }, { "text": "and precedent all militate in favor of that view. Accordingly, we hold that violating", "paragraph_id": "para_425" }, { "text": "the forum-defendant rule results in a nonjurisdictional defect in removal, and we", "paragraph_id": "para_426" }, { "text": "overrule Hurt and Horton to the extent they held to the contrary.", "paragraph_id": "para_427" }, { "text": "D.", "paragraph_id": "para_428" }, { "text": "Holbein raises a few points as to why we should stand by Hurt’s and Horton’s", "paragraph_id": "para_429" }, { "text": "jurisdictional characterization of the forum-defendant rule. Alternatively, he argues", "paragraph_id": "para_430" }, { "text": "that even if we overrule Hurt and Horton on this point and conclude the forum-", "paragraph_id": "para_431" }, { "text": "defendant rule is a waivable defect in removal, we should not find he has waived his", "paragraph_id": "para_432" }, { "text": "objection to removal based on the forum-defendant rule in this case. We are", "paragraph_id": "para_433" }, { "text": "unpersuaded.", "paragraph_id": "para_434" }, { "text": "Holbein devotes the bulk of his response to TAW Enterprises’ petition for", "paragraph_id": "para_435" }, { "text": "rehearing en banc defending Hurt and Horton as correctly reasoned and decided. For", "paragraph_id": "para_436" }, { "text": "the foregoing reasons, however, we disagree.", "paragraph_id": "para_437" }, { "text": "Holbein then suggests we are bound by Martin to treat the forum-defendant", "paragraph_id": "para_438" }, { "text": "rule as jurisdictional because “Baggs is distinguishable.” This is incorrect. As Judge", "paragraph_id": "para_439" }, { "text": "Hand recognized nearly a century ago, insofar as Martin stands for the proposition", "paragraph_id": "para_440" }, { "text": "that the absence of a right to remove leaves the district court without subject-matter", "paragraph_id": "para_441" }, { "text": "jurisdiction over the removed action, Baggs overruled it by treating the absence of a", "paragraph_id": "para_442" }, { "text": "right to remove as a nonjurisdictional defect. See Bailey, 47 F.2d at 155.", "paragraph_id": "para_443" }, { "text": "-16-", "paragraph_id": "para_444" }, { "text": "And again, the Supreme Court has reinforced Baggs in the 120 years since it", "paragraph_id": "para_445" }, { "text": "was decided. E.g., Grubbs, 405 U.S. at 702 (holding that unauthorized removal does", "paragraph_id": "para_446" }, { "text": "not pose a jurisdictional problem so long as the district court would have had original", "paragraph_id": "para_447" }, { "text": "jurisdiction over the action had it been filed there initially); see also Caterpillar Inc.", "paragraph_id": "para_448" }, { "text": "v. Lewis, 519 U.S. 61, 70-78 (1996) (concluding that unauthorized removal does not", "paragraph_id": "para_449" }, { "text": "require vacatur and remand to state court, presuming the district court had subject-", "paragraph_id": "para_450" }, { "text": "matter jurisdiction to enter final judgment, even when the objection to removal is", "paragraph_id": "para_451" }, { "text": "timely raised and properly preserved). Whatever lingering doubt remains about the", "paragraph_id": "para_452" }, { "text": "status of Martin despite these decisions is dispelled by the fact the Court itself", "paragraph_id": "para_453" }, { "text": "apparently has concluded Martin has no precedential force. See Lincoln Prop. Co.", "paragraph_id": "para_454" }, { "text": "v. Roche, 546 U.S. 81, 90 n.6 (2005) (noting that the Court has not addressed whether", "paragraph_id": "para_455" }, { "text": "the forum-defendant rule is jurisdictional while suggesting it agrees with the", "paragraph_id": "para_456" }, { "text": "nonjurisdictional view); cf. Arbaugh v. Y & H Corp., 546 U.S. 500, 511 (2006)", "paragraph_id": "para_457" }, { "text": "(instructing that “drive-by jurisdictional rulings,” such as where a court dismisses a", "paragraph_id": "para_458" }, { "text": "matter “for lack of jurisdiction” without explaining that disposition, “should be", "paragraph_id": "para_459" }, { "text": "accorded no precedential effect on the question whether the federal court had", "paragraph_id": "para_460" }, { "text": "authority to adjudicate the claim in suit” (internal quotation marks omitted)).", "paragraph_id": "para_461" }, { "text": "Holbein also asserts that this case is “ill-suited for the exercise of federal", "paragraph_id": "para_462" }, { "text": "jurisdiction because it revolves entirely on the interpretation of Nebraska case law.”", "paragraph_id": "para_463" }, { "text": "Regardless, with rare exception, federal courts “have ‘no more right to decline the", "paragraph_id": "para_464" }, { "text": "exercise of jurisdiction which is given, than to usurp that which is not given.’” Sprint", "paragraph_id": "para_465" }, { "text": "Commc’ns, Inc. v. Jacobs, 571 U.S. 69, 77 (2013) (quoting Cohens v. Virginia, 19", "paragraph_id": "para_466" }, { "text": "U.S. (6 Wheat.) 264, 404 (1821)). Congress gave federal courts jurisdiction over this", "paragraph_id": "para_467" }, { "text": "sort of action even though it involves only a state-law issue. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291,", "paragraph_id": "para_468" }, { "text": "1332(a). And it did not strip that jurisdiction through the forum-defendant rule. See", "paragraph_id": "para_469" }, { "text": "supra Section II.A. Having jurisdiction here, we have a “virtually unflagging”", "paragraph_id": "para_470" }, { "text": "obligation to exercise it. See Sprint Commc’ns, 571 U.S. at 77; Cohens, 19 U.S. (6", "paragraph_id": "para_471" }, { "text": "Wheat.) at 404 (stating that to do otherwise would be “treason to the constitution”).", "paragraph_id": "para_472" }, { "text": "-17-", "paragraph_id": "para_473" }, { "text": "Alternatively, Holbein argues that, even if violation of the forum-defendant", "paragraph_id": "para_474" }, { "text": "rule is a waivable, nonjurisdictional defect, waiver occurs only after “the parties", "paragraph_id": "para_475" }, { "text": "litigated through a trial.” For this point, he relies on the Grubbs Court’s observation", "paragraph_id": "para_476" }, { "text": "that objections to removal based on nonjurisdictional defects are waived when, after", "paragraph_id": "para_477" }, { "text": "removal, the case is “tried on the merits without objection and the federal court enters", "paragraph_id": "para_478" }, { "text": "judgment.” See 405 U.S. at 702 (emphasis added). Here, there was no trial because", "paragraph_id": "para_479" }, { "text": "the district court dismissed the action. Thus, according to Holbein, there is no waiver.", "paragraph_id": "para_480" }, { "text": "Holbein reads too much into the Grubbs Court’s use of the word “tried.” See,", "paragraph_id": "para_481" }, { "text": "e.g., Kruse v. Hawai‘i, 68 F.3d 331, 334 (9th Cir. 1995) (permitting waiver after", "paragraph_id": "para_482" }, { "text": "summary judgment); Johnson v. Odeco Oil & Gas Co., 864 F.2d 40, 42 (5th Cir.", "paragraph_id": "para_483" }, { "text": "1989) (finding waiver where the plaintiff “participates in the conduct” of the action", "paragraph_id": "para_484" }, { "text": "post-removal, such as by amending the complaint and participating in discovery);", "paragraph_id": "para_485" }, { "text": "Farm Constr. Servs., Inc. v. Fudge, 831 F.2d 18, 19, 22 (1st Cir. 1987) (per curiam)", "paragraph_id": "para_486" }, { "text": "(finding waiver after dismissal). At any rate, since 1996, § 1447(c) has required that", "paragraph_id": "para_487" }, { "text": "a plaintiff raise “any defect other than lack of subject matter jurisdiction” within “30", "paragraph_id": "para_488" }, { "text": "days after the filing of the notice of removal.” Otherwise, the opportunity for remand", "paragraph_id": "para_489" }, { "text": "on such grounds is waived. See Bloom, 440 F.3d at 1031 n.2. Having the action", "paragraph_id": "para_490" }, { "text": "“tried” is no longer a prerequisite (if it ever was) to finding waiver of an objection to", "paragraph_id": "para_491" }, { "text": "removal based on the forum-defendant rule.", "paragraph_id": "para_492" }, { "text": "Relatedly, Holbein claims that finding waiver here “would be particularly", "paragraph_id": "para_493" }, { "text": "unfair given the state of the law when this case began.” The only way to avoid", "paragraph_id": "para_494" }, { "text": "finding waiver under § 1447(c) in this case is to apply today’s holding strictly", "paragraph_id": "para_495" }, { "text": "prospectively. But “the normal rule in civil cases” is “full retroactivity.” Bottineau", "paragraph_id": "para_496" }, { "text": "Farmers Elevator v. Woodward-Clyde Consultants, 963 F.2d 1064, 1075 (8th Cir.", "paragraph_id": "para_497" }, { "text": "1992). Even assuming we have discretion to depart from this rule in cases where", "paragraph_id": "para_498" }, { "text": "retroactivity risks “grave disruption or inequity,” Ryder v. United States, 515 U.S.", "paragraph_id": "para_499" }, { "text": "177, 184-85 (1995); accord Nat’l Fuel Gas Supply Corp. v. FERC, 59 F.3d 1281,", "paragraph_id": "para_500" }, { "text": "1288 (D.C. Cir. 1995), we find no grave inequity here warranting such a departure.", "paragraph_id": "para_501" }, { "text": "-18-", "paragraph_id": "para_502" }, { "text": "When Holbein for the first time doubted the existence of jurisdiction at oral argument", "paragraph_id": "para_503" }, { "text": "before the panel, his counsel was quick to note that Holbein did not contest", "paragraph_id": "para_504" }, { "text": "jurisdiction because he just wanted “to have [his] case heard.” We do not think it", "paragraph_id": "para_505" }, { "text": "particularly unfair to grant Holbein’s request by following the normal rule of", "paragraph_id": "para_506" }, { "text": "retroactivity, finding he waived his objection to removal per § 1447(c), and", "paragraph_id": "para_507" }, { "text": "proceeding to the merits.", "paragraph_id": "para_508" }, { "text": "III.", "paragraph_id": "para_509" }, { "text": "Accordingly, we proceed to the merits of the district court’s dismissal of", "paragraph_id": "para_510" }, { "text": "Holbein’s first cause of action for retaliatory demotion and discharge in contravention", "paragraph_id": "para_511" }, { "text": "of public policy. We review de novo both the district court’s dismissal for failure to", "paragraph_id": "para_512" }, { "text": "state a claim, Birchansky v. Clabaugh, 955 F.3d 751, 755 (8th Cir. 2020), and its", "paragraph_id": "para_513" }, { "text": "interpretation of state law, Boudoin v. Harsson, 962 F.3d 1034, 1044 (8th Cir. 2020).", "paragraph_id": "para_514" }, { "text": "“Because this is a diversity action, we apply the substantive law of the forum state,", "paragraph_id": "para_515" }, { "text": "here Nebraska.” Ackerman v. U-Park, Inc., 951 F.3d 929, 933 (8th Cir. 2020). “[W]e", "paragraph_id": "para_516" }, { "text": "are bound by the decisions of the Nebraska Supreme Court, and, where it has not", "paragraph_id": "para_517" }, { "text": "spoken, we must predict how it would rule.” E3 Biofuels, LLC v. Biothane, LLC, 781", "paragraph_id": "para_518" }, { "text": "F.3d 972, 976 (8th Cir. 2015). “In making our prediction, we may consider relevant", "paragraph_id": "para_519" }, { "text": "state precedent, analogous decisions, considered dicta, scholarly works and any other", "paragraph_id": "para_520" }, { "text": "reliable data.” Ventura v. Titan Sports, Inc., 65 F.3d 725, 729 (8th Cir. 1995). We", "paragraph_id": "para_521" }, { "text": "“may pay particular attention to sources cited approvingly by the state’s highest", "paragraph_id": "para_522" }, { "text": "court.” Butler v. Balolia, 736 F.3d 609, 613 (1st Cir. 2013).", "paragraph_id": "para_523" }, { "text": "The district court concluded that Holbein’s first cause of action “fail[ed] as a", "paragraph_id": "para_524" }, { "text": "matter of law.” Holbein, 2018 WL 9538221, at *3. We agree.", "paragraph_id": "para_525" }, { "text": "The district court found that Holbein was an at-will employee, id., and Holbein", "paragraph_id": "para_526" }, { "text": "does not challenge that finding on appeal. In Nebraska, ordinarily, “an employer,", "paragraph_id": "para_527" }, { "text": "without incurring liability, may terminate an at-will employee at any time with or", "paragraph_id": "para_528" }, { "text": "-19-", "paragraph_id": "para_529" }, { "text": "without reason.” Trosper v. Bag ‘N Save, 734 N.W.2d 704, 706-07 (Neb. 2007). The", "paragraph_id": "para_530" }, { "text": "Nebraska Supreme Court has recognized an exception to this rule when an", "paragraph_id": "para_531" }, { "text": "employee’s firing violates “a very clear mandate of public policy.” Ambroz v.", "paragraph_id": "para_532" }, { "text": "Cornhusker Square Ltd., 416 N.W.2d 510, 515 (Neb. 1987). And it has extended this", "paragraph_id": "para_533" }, { "text": "exception to demotions. Trosper, 734 N.W.2d at 706. Thus, a person may state a", "paragraph_id": "para_534" }, { "text": "claim for wrongful demotion or discharge “when the motivation” for either type of", "paragraph_id": "para_535" }, { "text": "action “contravenes public policy.” See id. at 707. Such claims, however, are to “be", "paragraph_id": "para_536" }, { "text": "limited to manageable and clear standards.” Ambroz, 416 N.W.2d at 515; see also", "paragraph_id": "para_537" }, { "text": "O’Brien v. Bellevue Pub. Schs., 856 N.W.2d 731, 740 (Neb. 2014) (reiterating this", "paragraph_id": "para_538" }, { "text": "point). For this reason, the alleged public policy violated must be “very clear.”", "paragraph_id": "para_539" }, { "text": "Ambroz, 416 N.W.2d at 515.", "paragraph_id": "para_540" }, { "text": "We accept the factual allegations in Holbein’s complaint as true and construe", "paragraph_id": "para_541" }, { "text": "them in the light most favorable to him. See Vandevender v. Sass, 970 F.3d 972, 975", "paragraph_id": "para_542" }, { "text": "(8th Cir. 2020). Holbein alleges TAW Enterprises demoted and constructively", "paragraph_id": "para_543" }, { "text": "discharged him because he: informed TAW Enterprises about his colleague’s", "paragraph_id": "para_544" }, { "text": "allegedly criminal misconduct in attempting to cover up the loss of customer financial", "paragraph_id": "para_545" }, { "text": "information, see generally 15 U.S.C. §§ 6821(a)(2), 6823(a); advocated for that", "paragraph_id": "para_546" }, { "text": "colleague’s termination; “attempted to advise” TAW Enterprises of its unfulfilled", "paragraph_id": "para_547" }, { "text": "obligations under applicable provisions of the Act, see generally 15 U.S.C. §§ 6801-", "paragraph_id": "para_548" }, { "text": "09, 6821-27, and those provisions’ implementing regulations, see generally 16 C.F.R.", "paragraph_id": "para_549" }, { "text": "§ 313; and reported to TAW Enterprises ongoing noncompliance in the workplace", "paragraph_id": "para_550" }, { "text": "with those provisions and their implementing regulations. In short, Holbein alleges", "paragraph_id": "para_551" }, { "text": "he was demoted and constructively discharged because he was an internal", "paragraph_id": "para_552" }, { "text": "whistleblower about compliance issues with federal law at TAW Enterprises.", "paragraph_id": "para_553" }, { "text": "To be clear, Holbein does not allege that these provisions of federal law", "paragraph_id": "para_554" }, { "text": "imposed on him a mandatory reporting duty that he was fired for fulfilling or", "paragraph_id": "para_555" }, { "text": "protected him from discharge for this sort of internal whistleblowing. And he has not", "paragraph_id": "para_556" }, { "text": "called our attention to any portion of the applicable provisions of the Act or those", "paragraph_id": "para_557" }, { "text": "-20-", "paragraph_id": "para_558" }, { "text": "provisions’ implementing regulations that impose such a duty or contain such a", "paragraph_id": "para_559" }, { "text": "protection. See generally 15 U.S.C. §§ 6801-09, 6821-27; 16 C.F.R. § 313; cf.", "paragraph_id": "para_560" }, { "text": "Dunmire v. Morgan Stanley DW, Inc., 475 F.3d 956, 960 (8th Cir. 2007) (“No private", "paragraph_id": "para_561" }, { "text": "right of action exists for an alleged violation of the [Act].”). Holbein’s claim simply", "paragraph_id": "para_562" }, { "text": "is that these provisions of federal law embody a public policy of protecting", "paragraph_id": "para_563" }, { "text": "confidential customer financial information, Holbein acted consistently with this", "paragraph_id": "para_564" }, { "text": "public policy by his internal reporting, and TAW Enterprises contravened this public", "paragraph_id": "para_565" }, { "text": "policy by demoting and constructively discharging him for his actions.", "paragraph_id": "para_566" }, { "text": "It seems the Nebraska Supreme Court has not yet decided whether to extend", "paragraph_id": "para_567" }, { "text": "the public-policy exception to these circumstances. See O’Brien, 856 N.W.2d at 741", "paragraph_id": "para_568" }, { "text": "(recognizing that the plaintiff in that case raised this question in similar circumstances", "paragraph_id": "para_569" }, { "text": "but opting to affirm on alternative grounds without deciding whether to extend the", "paragraph_id": "para_570" }, { "text": "exception). In arguing the Nebraska Supreme Court effectively has extended the", "paragraph_id": "para_571" }, { "text": "public-policy exception to these circumstances, Holbein relies heavily on Schriner", "paragraph_id": "para_572" }, { "text": "v. Meginnis Ford Co., in which that court held that the exception would apply to", "paragraph_id": "para_573" }, { "text": "protect an employee fired for reporting in good faith his employer’s suspected", "paragraph_id": "para_574" }, { "text": "criminal behavior externally to the proper law-enforcement officials. 421 N.W.2d", "paragraph_id": "para_575" }, { "text": "755, 757-59 (Neb. 1988). The Schriner court indicated, however, that its decision", "paragraph_id": "para_576" }, { "text": "turned on the “appropriate facts” of that case, id. at 759, which differ from the facts", "paragraph_id": "para_577" }, { "text": "at hand, see Rastede v. Bright Horizons Res. for Survivors of Domestic Violence and", "paragraph_id": "para_578" }, { "text": "Sexual Assault, Inc., Nos. A-04-191, A-04-192, 2005 WL 2206037, at *1, *6 (Neb.", "paragraph_id": "para_579" }, { "text": "Ct. App. Sept. 13, 2005) (declining to extend Schriner to situation where employee", "paragraph_id": "para_580" }, { "text": "internally reported her direct supervisor’s allegedly unlawful conduct).", "paragraph_id": "para_581" }, { "text": "Therefore, we must predict how the Nebraska Supreme Court would decide this", "paragraph_id": "para_582" }, { "text": "case. To this end, we find the analysis in Wendeln v. The Beatrice Manor, Inc., 712", "paragraph_id": "para_583" }, { "text": "N.W.2d 226 (Neb. 2006), instructive. In Wendeln, a certified nursing assistant", "paragraph_id": "para_584" }, { "text": "claimed her discharge contravened public policy because she was fired for filing a", "paragraph_id": "para_585" }, { "text": "statutorily mandated report with the state department of health and human services.", "paragraph_id": "para_586" }, { "text": "-21-", "paragraph_id": "para_587" }, { "text": "Id. at 232-33, 236. “[A]gree[ing] with the reasoning” in a Wisconsin Supreme Court", "paragraph_id": "para_588" }, { "text": "decision, the Wendeln court held that the public-policy exception applied in such", "paragraph_id": "para_589" }, { "text": "circumstances. Id. at 239-40 (referencing Hausman v. St. Croix Care Ctr., 571", "paragraph_id": "para_590" }, { "text": "N.W.2d 393 (Wis. 1997)). In endorsing the Hausman court’s reasoning, however, the", "paragraph_id": "para_591" }, { "text": "Wendeln court suggested it approved of the line the Wisconsin Supreme Court drew", "paragraph_id": "para_592" }, { "text": "between “‘praiseworthy conduct consistent with public policy’” that does not fall", "paragraph_id": "para_593" }, { "text": "under the public-policy exception and conduct going “well beyond ‘merely", "paragraph_id": "para_594" }, { "text": "praiseworthy conduct’” that does. Id. at 239 (quoting Hausman, 571 N.W.2d at 397-", "paragraph_id": "para_595" }, { "text": "98); see also Ludlow v. BNSF Ry. Co., No. 4:12CV3113, 2013 WL 3872930, at *23", "paragraph_id": "para_596" }, { "text": "(D. Neb. July 24, 2013) (“[I]n Wendeln the Nebraska Supreme Court expressed", "paragraph_id": "para_597" }, { "text": "approval of Wisconsin’s more narrow rule that employees are not protected from", "paragraph_id": "para_598" }, { "text": "discharge for ‘merely engaging in praiseworthy conduct consistent with public", "paragraph_id": "para_599" }, { "text": "policy.’” (quoting Wendeln, 712 N.W.2d at 239)).", "paragraph_id": "para_600" }, { "text": "Although it does not appear that the Nebraska Supreme Court has fleshed out", "paragraph_id": "para_601" }, { "text": "further what it considers “merely praiseworthy conduct,” the Wisconsin Supreme", "paragraph_id": "para_602" }, { "text": "Court has. Because the Nebraska Supreme Court has endorsed this principle", "paragraph_id": "para_603" }, { "text": "recognized by that court, we consider what the Wisconsin Supreme Court has held", "paragraph_id": "para_604" }, { "text": "to be “merely praiseworthy conduct” not protected under the exception. See Butler,", "paragraph_id": "para_605" }, { "text": "736 F.3d at 613 (“In fashioning [an Erie] prediction, the federal court should consult", "paragraph_id": "para_606" }, { "text": "the types of sources that the state’s highest court would be apt to consult . . . .”).", "paragraph_id": "para_607" }, { "text": "For our purposes, we find Bushko v. Miller Brewing Co., 396 N.W.2d 167", "paragraph_id": "para_608" }, { "text": "(Wis. 1986), particularly insightful. There, an employee voluntarily reported", "paragraph_id": "para_609" }, { "text": "internally his concerns about his employer’s allegedly unlawful safety practices, his", "paragraph_id": "para_610" }, { "text": "employer’s hazardous-waste-disposal procedures, and “dishonest conduct” by some", "paragraph_id": "para_611" }, { "text": "of his colleagues involving “falsification of personnel and expense records.” Id. at", "paragraph_id": "para_612" }, { "text": "168-69. After being fired, he sued his employer, asserting wrongful discharge in", "paragraph_id": "para_613" }, { "text": "contravention of public policy by alleging that his firing was motivated by his internal", "paragraph_id": "para_614" }, { "text": "reporting of these issues. Id. The state court of appeals held that these facts fell", "paragraph_id": "para_615" }, { "text": "-22-", "paragraph_id": "para_616" }, { "text": "under the public-policy exception, but the Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed,", "paragraph_id": "para_617" }, { "text": "reasoning that “if the employee of his own volition” reports these sorts of concerns", "paragraph_id": "para_618" }, { "text": "“consistently with public policy,” he engages in “merely ‘praiseworthy’ conduct” and", "paragraph_id": "para_619" }, { "text": "is not protected from discharge by the exception. Id. at 169-70, 172.", "paragraph_id": "para_620" }, { "text": "The facts in Bushko are similar to the facts in this case. Holbein, “of his own", "paragraph_id": "para_621" }, { "text": "volition” and “consistently with public policy,” reported internally a colleague’s", "paragraph_id": "para_622" }, { "text": "alleged criminal misconduct as well as other issues of noncompliance with federal", "paragraph_id": "para_623" }, { "text": "law in the workplace. See Bushko, 396 N.W.2d at 170. Certainly, as alleged, his", "paragraph_id": "para_624" }, { "text": "conduct was “praiseworthy.” See id. at 171. But Nebraska’s public-policy exception", "paragraph_id": "para_625" }, { "text": "does not protect Holbein from demotion and discharge “for ‘merely engaging in", "paragraph_id": "para_626" }, { "text": "praiseworthy conduct consistent with public policy.’” See Wendeln, 712 N.W.2d at", "paragraph_id": "para_627" }, { "text": "239 (quoting Hausman, 571 N.W.2d at 397); see also Gomez v. Cargill, Inc., No.", "paragraph_id": "para_628" }, { "text": "4:06CV3191, 2006 WL 3257184, at *1-2, *1 n.1 (D. Neb. Nov. 9, 2006) (concluding", "paragraph_id": "para_629" }, { "text": "that the Nebraska Supreme Court would not extend the exception to protect an", "paragraph_id": "para_630" }, { "text": "employee of a beef slaughter facility from being fired for “making health and safety", "paragraph_id": "para_631" }, { "text": "complaints to his supervisors” concerning “dangerous conditions” in the workplace", "paragraph_id": "para_632" }, { "text": "that violated state criminal law). Mindful of the Nebraska Supreme Court’s", "paragraph_id": "para_633" }, { "text": "admonition that the public-policy exception is to be “limited to manageable and clear", "paragraph_id": "para_634" }, { "text": "standards” and should be applied only in the face of “a very clear mandate of public", "paragraph_id": "para_635" }, { "text": "policy” so dictating, see Ambroz, 416 N.W.2d at 515, we conclude the Nebraska", "paragraph_id": "para_636" }, { "text": "Supreme Court would not extend the exception to the facts alleged in this case.", "paragraph_id": "para_637" }, { "text": "Therefore, the district court correctly held that Holbein failed to state a claim as a", "paragraph_id": "para_638" }, { "text": "matter of law under Nebraska’s public-policy exception. See Holbein, 2018 WL", "paragraph_id": "para_639" }, { "text": "9538221, at *3-4.", "paragraph_id": "para_640" }, { "text": "IV.", "paragraph_id": "para_641" }, { "text": "For the foregoing reasons, we overrule our decisions in Hurt and Horton to the", "paragraph_id": "para_642" }, { "text": "extent they held that the forum-defendant rule is a jurisdictional defect in removal.", "paragraph_id": "para_643" }, { "text": "-23-", "paragraph_id": "para_644" }, { "text": "We also conclude that Holbein failed to state a claim as a matter of law for retaliatory", "paragraph_id": "para_645" }, { "text": "demotion and discharge in contravention of public policy under Nebraska law. Thus,", "paragraph_id": "para_646" }, { "text": "we affirm the judgment of the district court dismissing Holbein’s complaint with", "paragraph_id": "para_647" }, { "text": "prejudice.", "paragraph_id": "para_648" }, { "text": "______________________________", "paragraph_id": "para_649" }, { "text": "-24-", "paragraph_id": "para_650" } ], "word_count": 7715, "cites": [ "562 U.S. 428", "463 U.S. 1", "96 U.S. 199", "346 U.S. 574", "541 U.S. 567", "559 U.S. 77", "169 U.S. 649", "551 U.S. 205", "151 U.S. 673", "137 U.S. 451", "148 U.S. 663", "179 U.S. 206", "179 U.S. 335", "341 U.S. 6", "405 U.S. 699", "519 U.S. 61", "546 U.S. 81", "546 U.S. 500", "571 U.S. 69", "515 U.S.\n177", "948 F.3d 931", "431 F.3d 602", "963 F.2d 1142", "222 F.3d 377", "961 F.3d 1048", "611 F.3d 970", "718 F.3d 660", "456 F.3d 933", "213 F.3d 48", "139 F.3d 1368", "66 F.3d 46", "932 F.2d\n1518", "834 F.2d 1105", "606 F.2d 117", "433 F.2d 1091", "954 F.3d 1151", "817 F.3d 299", "185 F.3d 1", "757 F.2d 66", "945 F.2d 1434", "747 F.2d 1228", "109 F.2d 375", "11 F.2d 363", "171\nF.3d 1249", "879 F.2d 1402", "587 F.2d 642", "972 F.2d 107", "932 F.2d 1540", "2 F.2d 435", "939 F.3d 839", "47 F.2d 153", "428 F.2d 880", "27 F.2d 451", "66 F.2d 688", "592 F.3d\n907", "440 F.3d 1025", "68 F.3d 331", "864 F.2d 40", "831 F.2d 18", "963 F.2d 1064", "59 F.3d 1281", "955 F.3d 751", "962 F.3d 1034", "951 F.3d 929", "781\nF.3d 972", "65 F.3d 725", "736 F.3d 609", "970 F.3d 972", "475 F.3d 956" ], "cited_by": [], "sha256": "0b4ac83fd121a6cd8e6562f14a6ee9d7acde128fc6f0172c9350055ac3c79527", "source_url": "https://ecf.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/20/12/182892P.pdf", "fetched_at": "2026-10-06T17:15:15.528+00:00", "canonical": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/ai/judgments/us/ca8-18-2892-2020-01-29", "risk_graph": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/risk?id=us:ca8-18-2892-2020-01-29", "relations_graph": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/relations?id=us:ca8-18-2892-2020-01-29", "changes": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/us-praxis/changes", "agent": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/us-praxis/agent?id=us:ca8-18-2892-2020-01-29", "verification": { "stored_sha256": "0b4ac83fd121a6cd8e6562f14a6ee9d7acde128fc6f0172c9350055ac3c79527", "recomputed_sha256": "0b4ac83fd121a6cd8e6562f14a6ee9d7acde128fc6f0172c9350055ac3c79527", "intact": true, "checked_at": "2026-10-13T07:22:37.358Z" } }, "hash": "sha256:8741f5eefd8cdf0537519b3376f9e5982c408faabfb89d877004728c6eae2424", "version": "legal-2026-10-13", "expires": "2026-10-14T00:00:00.000Z", "dependency": { "index_version": "legal-2026-10-13+legal-2026-10-13+2026-10-13T07:15:55", "content_hash": "sha256:8741f5eefd8cdf0537519b3376f9e5982c408faabfb89d877004728c6eae2424", "revalidate_after": "2026-10-13T08:22:37.523Z", "max_copy_age_seconds": 3600, "policy": "revalidate-required; attribution-preferred", "changelog": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/dependency", "verify": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/verify", "stale_copy_invalid": true }, "canonical": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/judgment-text?id=us:ca8-18-2892-2020-01-29", "follow": [ { "rel": "risk", "href": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/risk?id=us:ca8-18-2892-2020-01-29" }, { "rel": "relations", "href": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/relations?id=us:ca8-18-2892-2020-01-29" }, { "rel": "agent", "href": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/us-praxis/agent?id=us:ca8-18-2892-2020-01-29" }, { "rel": "obligations", "href": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/obligation-chain" }, { "rel": "changes", "href": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/whats-new?jurisdiction=us" } ], "disclaimer": "Source reference with official identifier. 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