April 19th, 2017

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Opinions
Decatur Hospital Authority v. Aetna Health, Inc.

Docket: 16-10313
Opinion Date: April 18, 2017
Judge: James Earl Graves, Jr.
Areas of Law: Civil Procedure, Insurance Law, Legal Ethics

Wise Regional, a Texas municipal hospital authority, filed suit against Aetna, an insurance plan administrator, in state court over a dispute regarding medical insurance claims Wise Regional submitted on behalf of its patients. Aetna removed to federal court under 28 U.S.C. 1442, but the district court remanded to state court, awarding attorneys' fees. The court concluded that it had appellate jurisdiction over the remand order because Aetna relied upon the federal officer removal statute in its notice of removal; remand was proper because Aetna's notice of removal was untimely; and the district court did not abuse its discretion in awarding attorneys' fees where Aetna lacked an objectively reasonable basis for seeking removal of this action almost five months after expiration of the thirty-day deadline for removal. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment.