Laura Jordan v. Nationstar Mortgage LLC

Defendant-Appellant Nationstar Mortgage LLC (Nationstar) appeals from the district court’s order granting Plaintiff-Appellee Laura Zamora Jordan’s (Jordan) motion to remand this class action proceeding to state court because its removal was untimely under 28 U.S.C. § 1446 (b). Section 1446(b)(1) permits defendants to remove state-court actions to federal court within thirty days of receiving an initial pleading or other document that reveals a basis for removal. However, if the initial pleading does not provide a basis for removal, a defendant may remove an action within thirty days of receiving “an amended pleading, motion, order, or other paper” from which it may first be ascertained that the case is removable. 28 U.S.C. § 1446 (b)(3). Nationstar removed the case within thirty days of ascertaining re-movability under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1332 , 1453, but more than two years after the case became removable on federal question grounds pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331 .

Nationstar urges us to extend to the CAFA context the logic of our decision in Durham v. Lockheed Martin Corp., 445 F.3d 1247, 1253 (9th Cir.2006), which held that the thirty-day…