Gutierrez

I. BACKGROUND

18 Plaintiff filed suit against his former employer, Eli Lilly & Company (“Lilly”), 19 and former co-employee, Jayd Hanna (“Hanna”), in California Superior Court for 20 claims related to his termination from Lilly. (ECF No. 1 (“Pl.’s Compl.”.) Plaintiff 21 alleges numerous violations of employment discrimination laws and one count of 22 defamation against Lilly. The only claim against Hanna is for defamation. (Id. at 23 ¶ 16-25.) Plaintiff argues that Hanna defamed him by maliciously making 24 statements that he sexually harassed coworkers, (Id. at ¶¶ 12-13, 23), which led 25 to his termination from Lilly, (ECF No. 14 (“Pl.’s Reply to Defs.’ Opp. to Pl.’s Mot. 26 to Remand”), 3:3-10.) 27 Lilly removed the case on the basis of diversity jurisdiction. (ECF No. 1 28 (“Def.’s Notice of Removal”).) Hanna later consented to and joined in the removal. (ECF No. 11). Plaintiff and Hanna appear to be citizens of California and Lilly is a citizen of Indiana. (Def.’s Notice of Removal, at ¶¶ 7-11.) Though Hanna is not diverse from Plaintiff, Lilly argues that Hanna was fraudulently joined and that her citizenship should be disregarded. (Id. at ¶ 6.) …