Preston v. Tenant Health System Memorial Medical Center, Inc.

485 F.3d 804 (5th Cir. 2007)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Preston (P) represents a putative class of patients and the relatives of deceased and allegedly injured patients hospitalized at Memorial when Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. Memorial owned and operated the hospital, and LifeCare leased the seventh floor of the facility for an acute care center. P sued asserting claims for negligence and intentional misconduct, 'reverse patient dumping' and involuntary euthanization. P alleged a failure to design and maintain the premises in a manner that avoided loss of power in the building, failed to develop and implement an evacuation plan for the patients and failed to timely evacuate the facility. On June 26, 2006, LifeCare filed a timely notice of removal. LifeCare amended its removal notice to assert the following grounds: The Federal Officer Removal Statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1442(a)(1); the Multiparty, Multiforum Trial Jurisdiction Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1369; the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, 28 U.S.C. § 1369; and federal question jurisdiction, 28 U.S.C. § 1331. P filed a motion to remand under the local controversy exception of CAFA. P withdrew the motion, but Memorial adopted it, and the district court remanded the lawsuit to state court under the local controversy exception, home state exception, and the discretionary jurisdiction provision. This appeal resulted.