Pennsylvania Manufacturers' Association Insurance Company v. Fidelitone, Inc.

Facts

A declaratory judgment suit in a putative class action was brought under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. (BIPA). Fidelitone's (D) employees allege that it-a supply chain management firm based in Wauconda, Illinois-mishandled their fingerprints, which the company uses as modern 'timecards' for punching in and out of a shift. Association (P), an insurance company, seeks a declaration that it has no obligation to defend or indemnify its policy-holding defendant in the underlying BIPA class action, and further seeks recoupment of costs already incurred in defending that suit. P initially brought suit in the Circuit Court of Cook County, filing on December 14. On December 19, D-who had not yet been served with process -filed a notice of removal. P is a corporate citizen of Pennsylvania and D is a corporate citizen of Delaware with its principal place of business in Illinois. There is complete diversity of the parties to the declaratory judgment action, and the amount in controversy likely exceeds the statutory minimum of $75,000. D's principal place of business in suburban Chicago means it 'is a citizen of the State [of Illinois,] in which such action is brought.' This would preclude removal under the forum-defendant rule under § 1441(b)(2). D argues it is not subject to the forum-defendant restriction because it had not been served with process when it noticed removal. Because it beat the process server to the punch, D asserts such removal is proper under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1332(a), 1441(b)(2), and 1446(b)(1).

Issues

Rule of Law

Holding and Decision

Legal Analysis

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