Relying on congressional intent to avoid an absurd result from the literal reading of a statute, a federal judge remanded a case to state court in a decision that magnifies a division in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania over the "forum defendant rule."
That rule, which bars the removal of cases to federal court if one of the defendants is a citizen of the state in which the suit is filed, was passed by Congress in order to discourage the use of diversity jurisdiction when suits could be fairly handled in state courts, according to the opinion from U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
