Thermtron Products, Inc. v. Hermansdorfer
Thermtron Products, Inc. v. Hermansdorfer | |
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Argument | Oral argument |
Reargument | Reargument |
Opinion announcement | Opinion announcement |
Holding | |
A U.S. District Court may not refuse to exercise its statutory removal jurisdiction and remand a case to state court based simply on the press of other business, and its doing so is reviewable by writ of mandamus | |
Court membership | |
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Case opinions | |
Majority | White, joined by Brennan, Marshall, Blackmun, Powell |
Dissent | Rehnquist, joined by Burger, Stewart |
Stevens took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. | |
Laws applied | |
28 U.S.C. §§ 1441, 1446, 1447 |
Thermtron Products, Inc. v. Hermansdorfer, 423 U.S. 336 (1976), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court held that a United States District Court may not decline jurisdiction over a case that has properly been removed to it from state court on the ground that the court is backlogged with other cases, and that a District Court's refusal to hear a case on this ground may be reviewed by a writ of mandamus.
Facts
In 1973, two Kentucky citizens sued an Indiana corporation and one of its employees for damages caused by an automobile accident. The suit was initially filed in Kentucky state court, but because the parties were from different states, the defendants removed the case to a federal court, the
It was undisputed that the federal court had diversity jurisdiction over the action and that it had been properly removed to federal court under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1441 and 1446. However, Judge Hermansdorfer declined to entertain the case. He stated that his court was inundated with cases under the Black Lung Act, and that given the statutory priority accorded to criminal cases and Social Security and Black Lung cases, he would not be able to hear the case in a timely fashion. Finding that plaintiffs' rights would be impaired by a long delay in federal court and that defendants would not be prejudiced by having the case heard in state court, Judge Hermansdorfer remanded the case to state court.
The defendants filed a petition for a writ of mandamus or of
The defendants then sought review by the Supreme Court, which granted certiorari.
Opinion of the Court
Justice
Here, the District Court never found that this case had been removed to it "improvidently" or "without jurisdiction." Rather, the district court remanded the case to state court based on its "heavy docket," which was a consideration "wholly different from those upon which § 1447(c) permits remand." Reviewing the history and language of the removal statute, the Court concluded that sections 1447(c) and (d) must be considered together, so that a remand order unauthorized under section 1447(c) is not subject to the limitation of review under section 1447(d).
The Court then granted the writ of mandamus sought by the parties, because the District Court was required to entertain the removed action, and there was no other procedural means by which the parties could obtain review of its refusal to do so.
Dissenting opinion
Justice
External links
- Text of Thermtron Products, Inc. v. Hermansdorfer, 423 U.S. 336 (1976) is available from: Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)