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Saldana v. Glenhaven Healthcare LLC

Saldana v. Glenhaven Healthcare LLC

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

October 21, 2021, Argued and Submitted, Pasadena, California; February 22, 2022, Filed

No. 20-56194

Opinion

 [*683]  SCHREIER, District Judge:

Glenhaven Healthcare LLC, Caravan Operations Corp., Matthew Karp, and Benjamin Karp (collectively, Glenhaven) appeal the district court's order remanding this case to state court for lack of federal subject matter jurisdiction. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1447(d), and affirm. 3

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Ricardo Saldana was a resident of Glenhaven Healthcare nursing home from 2014 to 2020. Saldana died at the Glenhaven nursing home on April 13, 2020, allegedly from COVID-19. In June 2020, four of Saldana's relatives, Jackie Saldana, Celia Saldana, Ricardo Saldana, Jr., and Maria Saldana (the Saldanas), sued Glenhaven in California Superior Court for Los Angeles County. The Saldanas allege that Glenhaven failed to adequately protect Ricardo Saldana from the COVID-19 virus. The complaint states four state-law causes of action: elder abuse, willful misconduct, custodial negligence, and wrongful death.

Glenhaven removed the case to the United States District Court for the Central District of California in June 2020, and [**5]  the Saldanas moved to remand the case to state court. The district court found that it did not have subject matter jurisdiction to hear the case and granted the Saldanas' motion to remand. Glenhaven appeals, arguing that the district court has three independent grounds for federal jurisdiction: federal officer removal, complete preemption of state law, and the presence of an imbedded federal question. We agree with the district court and affirm.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

] We review questions of statutory construction and subject matter jurisdiction de novo. City of Oakland v. BP PLC, 969 F.3d 895, 903 (9th Cir. 2020). When the federal officer removal statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1442, is one ground for removal, § 1447(d) permits appellate review of a district court's entire remand order. BP P.L.C. v. Mayor of Balt., 141 S. Ct. 1532, 1538, 209 L. Ed. 2d 631 (2021). "If at any time before final judgment it appears that the district court lacks subject matter jurisdiction, the case shall be remanded." 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c).

III. DISCUSSION

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27 F.4th 679 *; 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 4631 **

JACKIE SALDANA; CELIA SALDANA; RICARDO SALDANA, JR.; MARIA SALDANA, as individuals and as successors and heirs to Ricardo Saldana, deceased, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. GLENHAVEN HEALTHCARE LLC, a California corporation; CARAVAN OPERATIONS CORP., a California corporation; MATTHEW KARP, an individual; BENJAMIN KARP, an individual, Defendants-Appellants.

Subsequent History: Rehearing denied by, En banc Saldana v. Healthcare LLC, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 10365 (9th Cir. Cal., Apr. 18, 2022)

Prior History:  [**1] Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California. D.C. No. 2:20-cv-05631-FMO-MAA. Fernando M. Olguin, District Judge, Presiding.

Saldana v. Glenhaven Healthcare LLC, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 216490, 2020 WL 6713995 (C.D. Cal., Oct. 14, 2020)

Disposition: AFFIRMED.

CORE TERMS

preemption, federal official, cause of action, regulations, willful misconduct, federal question, district court, declaration, removal, covered person, countermeasure, infrastructure, preempted, nursing home, federal law, pandemic, subject matter jurisdiction, removal statute, state-law, embedded, immunity, entity, federal jurisdiction, state court, recommendations, argues

Civil Procedure, Removal, Postremoval Remands, Appellate Review, Governments, Legislation, Interpretation, Specific Cases Removed, Cases Involving Federal Officers, Jurisdictional Defects, Appeals, Standards of Review, De Novo Review, Evidence, Burdens of Proof, Allocation, Preponderance of Evidence, Federal Government, Claims By & Against, Federal & State Interrelationships, Federal Common Law, Preemption, Constitutional Law, Supremacy Clause, Federal Preemption, Subject Matter Jurisdiction, Federal Questions, Well Pleaded Complaint Rule, Federal Questions, Public Health & Welfare Law, Social Services, Emergency Services, Justiciability, Exhaustion of Remedies, Administrative Remedies, Healthcare, Public Health Security, Communicable Diseases, Administrative Law, Judicial Review, Deference to Agency Statutory Interpretation, Local Governments, Employees & Officials, Jurisdiction