Opinion ID: 770968
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Re-Removal Of Rodriguez

Text: 23 When the district court remanded Rodriguez to Texas state court on July 11, 1995, the Standard Fruit entities had on file a Special Appearance Objecting to Jurisdiction, First Amended Motion to Transfer Venue, or in the Alternative Motion to Dismiss, and First Amended Original Answer. In essence, the Standard Fruit entities had filed their answers subject to and without waiving their special appearances. Upon remand, the state court addressed and denied the Standard Fruit entities' special appearances on February 2, 1996, with the order filed on February 5, 1996. On March 4, 1996, without obtaining leave from the state court, the Standard Fruit entities filed third-party petitions naming Dead Sea, Bromine, and AMVAC as third-party defendants and delivered courtesy copies to Dead Sea and to Bromine. Thereafter, Dead Sea and Bromine removed the case to the Laredo Division of the Southern District of Texas, asserting federal question jurisdiction as a foreign state under the FSIA. The case was then transferred to the federal district court at Houston, whose decisions form the basis of these appeals. 24 In the district court, the Rodriguez plaintiffs moved for remand, arguing that the Standard Fruit entities should have asked for leave from the state court before filing their third-party petitions pursuant to Rule 38(a) because the Standard entities had filed their original answers in August of 1993 and their amended original answers on September 17, 1993, over two years from the time that the Standard Fruit entities had filed their third-party petitions. The district court denied the motion, finding that the Standard Fruit entities' answers were conditional and did not become effective for purposes of Rule 38(a) until the state court overruled the Standard Fruit entities' special appearances. As in Delgado, the Rodriguez plaintiffs sought to strike the third-party claims on grounds of fraudulent joinder or, in the alternative, to sever the third-party claims while the Defendants moved for dismissal on forum non conveniens. The district court denied the Rodriguez plaintiffs' motions, but granted dismissal subject to the same conditions as in Delgado.