Opinion ID: 2960735
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: standard of review

Text: A decision by the district court to grant or deny attorneys’ fees and costs pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c) is reviewed for an abuse of discretion. Valdes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 199 F.3d 290, 292 (5th Cir. 2000). When the district court remands a case to state court, it may award the non-removing party its attorneys’ fees and expenses incurred as a result of the removal, but a district court should typically, absent unusual circumstances, decline to award fees where the defendant had an “objectively reasonable basis for removal.” Martin v. Franklin Capital Corp., 546 U.S. 132, 136 (2005). In determining whether a defendant had objectively reasonable grounds for removal, we “evaluate the objective merits of removal at the time of removal.” Valdes, 199 F.3d at 293. The mere fact that a district court ultimately concludes that removal was improper is not a sufficient ground for awarding attorneys’ fees. Id. at 292.