Enright v. Centene Management Company, LLC d/b/a Health Net Federal Services, LLC

Summary

The United States District Court for the Southern District of California denied Paul C. Enright’s motion to remand his employment-law action against Centene Management Company, LLC to state court. The court held that diversity jurisdiction existed because the amount in controversy exceeded $75,000 and the parties were completely diverse, and it denied the related motion to stay as moot.

Holdings

1. The amount in controversy exceeded $75,000 because the complaint's allegations of more than three years of lost wages, bonuses, benefits, and other compensation, combined with its other damages requests, made the jurisdictional amount facially apparent; the removal petition independently supported that amount.
2. Complete diversity existed because Plaintiff was a California citizen and the defendant LLCs' citizenship, determined through their membership layers, was Delaware and Missouri rather than California.
3. The motion to remand was denied because the court possessed original diversity jurisdiction over the action and removal was proper.
4. The motion to stay was denied as moot because the court resolved the remand motion.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the amount in controversy exceeded $75,000 for purposes of diversity jurisdiction.
2. Whether the parties were completely diverse for purposes of diversity jurisdiction.
3. Whether the removed action should be remanded to state court.
4. Whether Plaintiff's motion to stay should be granted while the remand motion was pending.

Disposition

other