Opinion ID: 781209
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Text of the Removal Statute of the FSIA

Text: 48 To answer that question, we begin with the text of the statute. See Coronado-Durazo v. INS, 123 F.3d 1322, 1324 (9th Cir.1997) (stating principle). The removal procedure established by 28 U.S.C. § 1441(d) reads: 49 Any civil action brought in a State court against a foreign state as defined in section 1603(a) of this title may be removed by the foreign state to the district court of the United States for the district and division embracing the place where such action is pending. Upon removal the action shall be tried by the court without jury. Where removal is based upon this subsection, the time limitations of section 1446(b) of this chapter may be enlarged at any time for cause shown. 50 On its face, § 1441(d) contains no restrictions on a foreign sovereign's right to remove. Indeed, even the usual time limit on the right of removal is relaxed. Under the most natural reading of the statute, a foreign sovereign that obtained a defendant's interest by assignment satisfies the criteria contained in the removal provision. Here, for instance, the suit (1) is a civil action, (2) was brought in State court, (3) and is against the RCC, a foreign state. Under a straightforward reading of § 1441(d), then, a later-joined foreign sovereign assignee apparently enjoys the same right of removal as a foreign sovereign that is an original defendant in a suit filed in state court. 51 Nevertheless, there is another plausible reading of the statute that could justify an opposite conclusion. When a plaintiff sues a nonforeign sovereign defendant in state court, only to have the original defendant transfer an interest in the case to a foreign sovereign that then joins and removes, arguably the action was not brought ... against a foreign state, 28 U.S.C. § 1441(d), but rather was transformed into such an action after the case was brought. 52 That reading is not unreasonable theoretically, but it is inconsistent with the way courts have interpreted the statute in other contexts. For example, other circuits have held that a foreign state that is brought into an action as a third-party defendant, rather than as an original defendant by the plaintiff, may remove the entire action to federal court. See, e.g., Davis v. McCourt, 226 F.3d 506, 509 (6th Cir.2000) (We find that ... 28 U.S.C. § 1441(d) allows a foreign third-party defendant to remove an entire action from state court to district court.); In re Air Crash Disaster Near Roselawn, 96 F.3d 932, 942 (7th Cir.1996) (citing Nolan v. Boeing Co., 919 F.2d 1058, 1064 (5th Cir.1990), with approval); In re Surinam Airways Holding Co., 974 F.2d 1255, 1259 (11th Cir.1992) (The [FSIA] ... intended to render uniform in procedure and substance the treatment of foreign sovereigns subjected to suits in American courts. Making a federal forum available to a foreign state furthers this goal, whether the foreign state is a defendant or a third-party defendant. (citations and internal quotation marks omitted)); Nolan, 919 F.2d at 1065 ([W]e can perceive no significant distinction between the authorization for removal of an entire action by a sovereign co-defendant, and removal of an entire action by a sovereign third-party defendant.). Obviously, if a foreign state is brought into an action as a third-party defendant, the civil action was not originally against a foreign sovereign. Nevertheless, a foreign sovereign may remove pursuant to the FSIA in such circumstances. That the action is against the foreign sovereign at the time of the removal suffices to satisfy the requirements of the FSIA. 53 In short, there is nothing in the text of 28 U.S.C. § 1441(d), as interpreted by our sister circuits, to support EIEG's argument that a foreign state must be an original defendant in order to enjoy the power to remove under the FSIA. However, as EIEG points out, the RCC is not a third-party defendant, brought into this litigation without its active consent. Rather, it is a voluntarily joined defendant. 54 The fact that a foreign state that is brought into an action involuntarily may remove under § 1441(d) does not necessarily mean that a foreign state that chooses voluntarily to join litigation in progress, even as a defendant, enjoys the same right. 7 Because the text of the FSIA removal statute does not answer this question, we turn next to its legislative history to ascertain Congress' intent. See United States v. Davidson, 246 F.3d 1240, 1246 (9th Cir.2001) (Where the plain language of a statute is ambiguous, a court may go beyond the words of the statute to examine the textual evolution of the [contested language] and the legislative history that may explain or elucidate it. (citations and internal quotation marks omitted)).