Innocent Party Protection Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5345 To amend title 28, United States Code, to prevent fraudulent joinder. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 6, 2019 Mr. BUCK (for himself, Mr. COLLINS of Georgia, and Mr. RATCLIFFE) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Ju- diciary A BILL To amend title 28, United States Code, to prevent fraudulent joinder. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Innocent Party Protec- 4 tion Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. PREVENTION OF FRAUDULENT JOINDER. 6 Section 1447 of title 28, United States Code, is 7 amended by adding at the end the following: 8 ‘‘(f) FRAUDULENT JOINDER.— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:22 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5345.IH H5345 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5345 IH ‘‘(1) This subsection shall apply to any case in 1 which— 2 ‘‘(A) a civil action is removed solely on the 3 basis of the jurisdiction conferred by section 4 1332(a); 5 ‘‘(B) a motion to remand is made on the 6 ground that— 7 ‘‘(i) one or more defendants are citi- 8 zens of the same State as one or more 9 plaintiffs; or 10 ‘‘(ii) one or more defendants properly 11 joined and served are citizens of the State 12 in which the action was brought; and 13 ‘‘(C) the motion is opposed on the ground 14 that the joinder of the defendant or defendants 15 described in subparagraph (B) is fraudulent. 16 ‘‘(2) The joinder of a defendant described in 17 paragraph (1)(B) is fraudulent if the court finds 18 that— 19 ‘‘(A) there is actual fraud in the pleading 20 of jurisdictional facts with respect to that de- 21 fendant; 22 ‘‘(B) based on the complaint and the mate- 23 rials submitted under paragraph (3), it is not 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:22 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5345.IH H5345 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5345 IH plausible to conclude that applicable State law 1 would impose liability on that defendant; 2 ‘‘(C) State or Federal law clearly bars all 3 claims in the complaint against that defendant; 4 or 5 ‘‘(D) objective evidence clearly dem- 6 onstrates that there is no good faith intention 7 to prosecute the action against that defendant 8 or to seek a joint judgment including that de- 9 fendant. 10 ‘‘(3) In determining whether to grant or deny 11 a motion under paragraph (1)(B), the court may 12 permit the pleadings to be amended, and shall con- 13 sider the pleadings, affidavits, and other evidence 14 submitted by the parties. 15 ‘‘(4) If the court finds that all defendants de- 16 scribed in paragraph (1)(B) have been fraudulently 17 joined under paragraph (2), it shall dismiss without 18 prejudice the claims against those defendants and 19 shall deny the motion described in paragraph 20 (1)(B).’’. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:22 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5345.IH H5345 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS