Judge Mae D’Agostino
Through agreements in 2004 and 2009, Florida firm American Tax Funding (ATF) bought plaintiff city’s tax lien portfolio, acquiring rights to foreclose. The city’s May 2012 state court action sought foreclosure on 700 properties with delinquent 2008-2009 tax liens. ATF’s foreclosure actions on many of those properties are pending. Seeking remand, for lack of complete diversity, the city argued that ATF was only one of many identifiable defendants in the underlying foreclosure suit, and did not obtain the others’ consent. The court found ATF’s conclusory assertions insufficient to meet its "heavy burden" of proving fraudulent joinder based upon the prior foreclosure actions. However, it deniedwith leave to renewthe city’s remand motion. From the record, the court could not conclude that non-diverse defendants were properly served. The court noted that the city did not provide copies of any affidavits of service on non-diverse defendants, copies of certified mailings or return receipts, a copy of any public notice, nor the name of newspapers or date of such notice. On the record, ATF sought removal before the city properly served the remaining defendants. Thus, ATF was not required to obtain the non-diverse defendants’ consent for removal.
