Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-casd-3_17-cv-00363/USCOURTS-casd-3_17-cv-00363-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 440
Nature of Suit: Other Civil Rights
Cause of Action: 28:1441cv Removal- Civil Rights Act

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

SONIA INES CARBONELL,

Plaintiff,

Case No. 17-cv-00363-BAS-BLM

ORDER DISMISSING ACTION

v.

COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO, et al.,

Defendants.

In a span of two days, Defendants removed the same state court case to two 

separate federal district courts. Now, both of the resulting federal cases are pending 

before this Court. One of them is a doppelgänger. Both cases cannot properly be

before this Court. For the reasons explained below, the Court concludes this case is 

the improper one and dismisses it.

I. BACKGROUND

A. First Attempt at Removal (Case No. 17-cv-00363)

Plaintiff Sonia Ines Carbonell filed suit in San Diego Superior Court against 

Defendants County of San Diego; TERM; OptumHealth Holdings, LLC; Dr. Sara 

Maltzman; Dr. Rada West; and Dr. LeAnn Skimming. (Compl., Notice of Removal 

Ex. A, ECF No. 1-2.) On January 9, 2017, Defendants TERM, Dr. West, and Dr. 

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Skimming attempted to remove this case by filing a notice of removal in the Southern 

Division of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. 

(ECF No 1.) The Southern Division of the Central District is located in Santa Ana, 

California. The Central District’s Southern Division in Santa Ana is, of course, not 

“the district court of the United States for the district and division within which” 

Plaintiff’s San Diego Superior Court action was pending before Defendants’ 

attempted removal. See 28 U.S.C. § 1446(a). 

The next day, the Clerk of the Court for the Central District issued a “Notice 

to Filer of Deficiencies in Attorney Case Opening.” (ECF No. 4.) This Notice 

correctly warned the parties that “the action was removed to the wrong federal court.” 

(Id.) Several weeks later, the parties filed a joint request to transfer this case to the 

Southern District of California. (ECF No. 6.) Judge Selna granted the parties’ request, 

and on February 23, 2017, the case was transferred from the Central District to the 

Southern District of California and assigned to Judge Miller. (ECF Nos. 9–10.) 

The parties have not filed anything in this case since it was transferred. 

Consequently, Judge Miller issued an order to show cause as to why this case should 

not be dismissed for lack of prosecution. (ECF No. 12.) From this point, the Court 

will refer to this case as the “First Case.”

B. Second Attempt at Removal (Case No. 17-cv-00064)

Meanwhile, Defendants tried their luck at another attempt to remove Plaintiff’s 

case. Two days after their first attempt, Dr. West—with the other Defendants’ 

consent—filed a notice of removal in the Southern District of California, resulting in 

what the Court will refer to as the “Second Case.” Carbonell v. County of San Diego, 

No. 17-cv-00064-BAS-BLM (S.D. Cal. removed Jan. 11, 2017), ECF No. 1. 

Interestingly, Dr. West’s notice of removal in the Second Case did not mention the 

First Case already pending in the Central District. See id.

Thereafter, while the parties were attempting to transfer the First Case to the 

Southern District of California, they forged onwards with the Second Case. See 

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Second Case, ECF Nos. 2–31. Plaintiff amended her Complaint, and Defendants filed 

several motions to dismiss in the Second Case. See generally id. The parties did not, 

however, file a notice of related case informing the Court of the First Case. See id.

Also while the parties proceeded with the Second Case, Judge Miller issued 

his aforementioned order to show cause in the dormant First Case. Plaintiff then filed 

an ex parte application in the Second Case to vacate the order to show cause in the 

First Case and to consolidate the Second Case with the First Case. See Second Case, 

ECF No. 32. From this ex parte application, the Court learned of the First Case 

pending before Judge Miller. The Court shortly thereafter accepted transfer of the 

First Case through the district’s low-number rule.

1 Thus, both the First Case and the 

Second Case are now pending before this Court. 

II. ANALYSIS

Under 28 U.S.C. § 1441(a), a defendant may remove to federal court “any civil 

action brought in a State court of which the district courts of the United States have 

original jurisdiction.” Removal involves three steps. First, the removing defendant 

files a notice of removal in the appropriate federal court. 28 U.S.C. § 1446(a). 

Second, the removing defendant provides written notice of the removal to all adverse 

parties. Id. § 1446(d). Third, the removing defendant also provides notice of the 

removal to the clerk of the state court. Id.

“If the removal suffers from procedural defects, the plaintiff is responsible for 

bringing those defects to the attention of the district court in a timely motion to 

remand.” Polo v. Innoventions Int’l, LLC, 833 F.3d 1193, 1196 (9th Cir. 2016); see 

also 28 U.S.C. § 1447 (providing a remand motion “on the basis of any defect other 

than lack of subject matter jurisdiction must be made within 30 days after the filing 

 1 Although the First Case was filed in federal court before the Second Case, it was assigned 

a new case number upon being transferred to this district. Hence, the Second Case is the lownumbered case, and the First Case was accordingly transferred from Judge Miller to this Court.

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of the notice of removal”). Procedural defects that are not raised are generally 

waived. Id. In contrast, defects in subject matter jurisdiction can never be waived. 

Kelton Arms Condo. Owners Ass’n, Inc. v. Homestead Ins. Co., 346 F.3d 1190, 1192 

(9th Cir. 2003).

Both attempts at removing Plaintiff’s state court action suffered from defects. 

In the First Case, Defendants removed the action to the wrong federal district court, 

which is, surprisingly, not a rare occurrence. See, e.g., Mortensen v. Wheel Horse

Prod., Inc., 772 F. Supp. 85, 86 (N.D.N.Y. 1991).

In the Second Case, Defendants filed their notice of removal with the 

knowledge that they had already filed a notice of removal in the Central District of 

California. “Some cases hold that removal is effective from the time the notice of 

removal is filed with the federal court.” 14C Wright & Miller, Federal Practice and 

Procedure § 3736 – Procedure for Removal—When Removal is Effective; Further 

Proceedings in State Court (2017) (collecting cases); see also Polo, 833 F.3d at 1196 

(“Removal is a powerful tool: It operates largely automatically in that once a 

defendant has filed the appropriate notice of removal in the federal district court 

removal is a fait accompli.”). Under this interpretation, there was no case pending in 

California state court to remove when Defendants made their second attempt at 

removal two days after their first attempt. If true, the Second Case—the one the 

parties have elected to proceed with—is “a case number which houses no actual 

case.” See Tanzman v. Midwest Exp. Airlines, Inc., 916 F. Supp. 1013, 1017 (S.D. 

Cal. 1996) (Brewster, J.). 

Ultimately, however, the Court finds the Second Case is properly before this 

Court. “[T]he sounder rule, and the one most consistent with the language of Section 

1446(d) of Title 28, is that removal is not effective until the defendant has taken all 

the steps required by the federal statute.” 14C Wright & Miller, Federal Practice and 

Procedure § 3736 – Procedure for Removal—When Removal is Effective; Further 

Proceedings in State Court (2017); see also 28 U.S.C. § 1446(d) (providing that filing 

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a notice that the case has been removed with the state court clerk “shall effect the 

removal”). A review of the San Diego Superior Court docket for Plaintiff’s case 

reveals Defendants completed all of the steps required for removal for one of their 

removal attempts: the Second Case. They filed an appropriate notice to the San Diego 

Superior Court on January 12, 2017, reflecting that the case had been removed to this 

Court and assigned Case No. 17-cv-00064—the Second Case. See Carbonell v. 

County of San Diego, No. 37-2016-00035961-CU-DF-CTL (Super. Ct. Cal. filed 

Oct. 13, 2016), ROA No. 9. Defendants did not file a comparable notice for the First 

Case. Thus, notwithstanding the events described above, the Court concludes the 

Second Case is properly before this Court. 

But the Court is still left with the First Case—where Defendants did not 

complete all of the steps for removal. Their failure to do so constitutes procedural 

error. Although procedural errors not objected to by Plaintiff are generally waived, 

both cases cannot go forward simultaneously. Further, because the parties may 

proceed with the Second Case, and they are actively doing so, the First Case serves

no purpose. It is essentially “a case number which houses no actual case.” See 

Tanzman, 916 F. Supp. at 1017.

Confronted with a purposeless case, the Court turns to its inherent powers. 

Federal courts are vested with inherent powers that include “those which ‘are 

necessary to the exercise of all others.’” See Roadway Exp., Inc. v. Piper, 447 U.S. 

752, 764 (1980) (quoting United States v. Hudson, 11 U.S. (7 Cranch) 32, 34 (1812)). 

Consequently, “[i]t is well established that ‘[d]istrict courts have inherent power to 

control their dockets’” and dispose of cases when appropriate. See Atchison, Topeka 

& Santa Fe Ry. Co. v. Hercules Inc., 146 F.3d 1071, 1074 (9th Cir. 1998) (quoting 

Hernandez v. City of El Monte, 138 F.3d 393, 398 (9th Cir. 1998)). Because the First 

Case serves no purpose, the Court will exercise its inherent power to control its 

docket to dismiss and close this case. See id.

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Accordingly, the Court DISMISSES this action. The Clerk of the Court is 

directed to close this case. Further, the Clerk shall file a copy of this order in the 

Second Case—Case No. 17-cv-00064. The parties are to proceed in the Second Case, 

and this dismissal will not constitute an adjudication on the merits.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

DATED: September 18, 2017

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