Opinion ID: 530035
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: reviewability of remand orders

Text: 15 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1447(c) requires a district court to remand a case to state court when it determines the case was removed without jurisdiction. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1447(d) prohibits review of all remand orders issued pursuant to section 1447(c) whether erroneous or not and whether review is sought by extraordinary writ or by any other means. Thermtron Prods., Inc. v. Hermansdorfer, 423 U.S. 336, 343, 96 S.Ct. 584, 589, 46 L.Ed.2d 542 (1976); Seedman v. United States Dist. Court, 837 F.2d 413, 414 (9th Cir.1988). 16 A remand order that is not based on statutory grounds, however, is reviewable because [t]here is no indication whatsoever that Congress intended to extend the prohibition against review to reach remand orders entered on grounds not provided by the statute. Thermtron, 423 U.S. at 350, 96 S.Ct. at 592 (holding that a remand order based on the district court's crowded docket is reviewable by writ of mandamus). Further, where a remand order is based on a substantive determination on the merits apart from any jurisdictional decision, the order is reviewable on appeal as a final collateral order. See Clorox Co. v. United States Dist. Court, 779 F.2d 517, 520 (9th Cir.1985) (remand order based on contractual forum selection clause is appealable); Pelleport Investors, Inc. v. Budco Quality Theatres, Inc., 741 F.2d 273, 276-78 (9th Cir.1984) (remand order based on contractual waiver of right of removal is appealable); Waco v. United States Fidelity & Guar. Co., 293 U.S. 140, 143, 55 S.Ct. 6, 7, 79 L.Ed. 244 (1934) (dismissal of a third party action that formed the basis for the remand is appealable). 17 It is clear that in both the Whitman and Connecticut General cases the remand order was a jurisdictional decision. The only question is whether in the process of making that decision on the basis of lack of federal preemption, a substantive law determination was made that would bring these cases within the Clorox exception.