Adrienne Janis v. Health Net Inc.

FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION MAR 20 2012
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U .S. C O U R T OF APPE ALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
ADRIENNE G. JANIS, on behalf of No. 12-55206
herself, all other persons similarly situated
and the general public, D.C. No. 5:11-cv-01214-PA-JEM
Plaintiff - Appellee,
MEMORANDUM *
v.
HEALTH NET, INC., a Delaware
corporation, and HEALTH NET, INC. OF
CALIFORNIA, a California corporation,
Defendants - Appellants,
and
DOES 1 through 100, inclusive,
Defendants.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Central District of California
Percy Anderson, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted March 5, 2012
Pasadena, California
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
Before: FARRIS, CLIFTON, and IKUTA, Circuit Judges.
Adrienne Janis filed a class action against Health Net, Inc. and Health Net,
Inc. of California (together, “Health Net”) in state court. Health Net removed to
federal court. Health Net’s notice of removal sufficiently alleged that 28 U.S.C.
§ 1332(d)’s jurisdictional requirements were met. See 28 U.S.C. § 1446(a). After
removal, Janis moved to remand to state court, arguing that Health Net had not
proved that § 1332(d)’s requirements were satisfied. Health Net opposed the
motion. It submitted evidence to prove that § 1332(d)’s requirements were more
likely than not met. See Lowdermilk v. U.S. Bank Nat’l Ass’n, 479 F.3d 994, 998
(9th Cir. 2007). The district court refused to consider Health Net’s evidence
because Health Net did not submit the evidence at the time it filed its notice of
removal. The district court ordered the case remanded to state court. We granted
Health Net’s petition for permission to appeal the district court’s order. See 28
U.S.C. § 1453(c). We reverse.
Nothing in 28 U.S.C. § 1446 requires a removing defendant to attach
evidence of the federal court’s jurisdiction to its notice of removal. Section 1446(a)
requires merely a “short and plain statement of the grounds for removal.”
Moreover, we have observed that “it is clearly appropriate for the district courts, in
their discretion, to accept certain post-removal [evidence] as determinative of the
[jurisdictional requirements].” Abrego Abrego v. Dow Chem. Co., 443 F.3d 676,
690-91 (9th Cir. 2006); see Singer v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 116 F.3d 373,
377 (9th Cir. 1997) (“The district court may consider whether it is ‘facially
apparent’ from the complaint that the jurisdictional amount is in controversy. If
not, the court may consider facts in the removal petition, and may ‘require parties
to submit summary-judgment-type evidence relevant to the amount in controversy
at the time of removal.’”) (quoting Allen v. R & H Oil & Gas Co., 63 F.3d 1326,
1336 (5th Cir. 1995)).
The district court erred as a matter of law and thus abused its discretion in
refusing to consider Health Net’s evidence. The only grounds for its refusal were
that Health Net submitted the evidence after it filed its notice of removal and that
the evidence was from Health Net itself rather than an admission by Janis. Neither
is a valid reason for ignoring Health Net’s evidence. Moreover, the district court’s
decision prejudiced Health Net. The evidence appears to establish that § 1332(d)’s
requirements were met. See Orr v. Bank of Am., NT & SA, 285 F.3d 764, 773 (9th
Cir. 2002) (under abuse-of-discretion standard, “[w]e must affirm the district court
unless its evidentiary ruling was manifestly erroneous and prejudicial”); c.f.
Abrego, 443 F.3d at 691 (“‘trial court’s refusal to grant [jurisdictional] discovery’”
should be reversed if “‘the dismissal resulted in actual and substantial prejudice to
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the litigant’”) (quoting Wells Fargo & Co. v. Wells Fargo Express Co., 556 F.2d
406, 430 n.24 (9th Cir. 1977)) (alteration in Abrego).
We reverse the district court’s order remanding the case to state court, and
we remand with instructions for the district court to consider the jurisdictional
evidence Health Net submitted.
REVERSED and REMANDED.
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