Jones v. Greyhound Lines, Inc.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Northern District of California grants plaintiff Devonna Jones’s motion to remand her employment-law action to state court. The court concludes that the individual California defendant was not shown to be fraudulently joined because California Labor Code section 1102.5 may permit individual liability, creating at least a possibility of a viable claim and defeating diversity jurisdiction.

Holdings

1. Murff was not fraudulently joined because defendants did not establish that Jones had no possibility, above the trivial or frivolous level, of stating a California Labor Code § 1102.5 retaliation claim against her individually.
2. Because Murff's California citizenship could not be disregarded, complete diversity was absent and the action had to be remanded to state court.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Angela Murff was fraudulently joined so that her California citizenship could be disregarded for purposes of diversity jurisdiction.
2. Whether the possibility of individual liability under California Labor Code § 1102.5 required remand notwithstanding defendants' reliance on federal decisions dismissing similar claims under Rule 12(b)(6).

Disposition

remanded