Ninth Circuit Expands Opportunities for Defendants to Remove to Federal Court

In Roth, et al. v. CHA Hollywood Medical Center, L.P., et al., the Ninth Circuit recently expanded the ability of defendants to remove cases to federal court. Significantly, the Ninth Circuit rejected the district court's conclusion that a defendant can only remove within the two 30-day periods specified in 28 U.S.C. § 1446(b)(1) and § 1446(b)(3). The court held that while these sections "specify that a defendant must remove a case within thirty days of receiving from the plaintiff either an initial pleading or some other document, if that pleading or document shows the case is removable," these two periods "do not otherwise affect the time during which a defendant may remove." Instead, a defendant "may remove to federal court when it discovers, based on its own investigation, that a case is removable."