The current e-fling policy of the state judicial branch poses an unnecessary and unwarranted threat to a defendant’s right to remove a case to federal court.
Under the federal removal statutes, a defendant removing a civil action to federal court must file its notice of removal in the appropriate federal court “within 30 days after the receipt by the defendant, through service or otherwise, of a copy of the initial pleading setting forth the claim for relief upon which such action or proceeding is based.…” The removal process carries with it a number of procedural hurdles, the vast majority of which are on the federal court side of the ledger, but the last thing that a removing defendant must do in order to perfect a removal is to file with the state court a copy of the notice of removal filed with the federal court. Under federal law, the filing of that notice “shall effect the removal and the State court shall proceed no further unless and until the case is remanded.”
