Roddy v. Grand Trunk Western R.R. Inc., 02-2499.

• Citation: 395 F.3d 318
• Decision Date: 14 January 2005
• Docket Number: No. 02-2499.,02-2499.
• Parties: James T. RODDY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. GRAND TRUNK WESTERN RAILROAD INCORPORATED; Tracy Miller; Lawrence T. Wizauer; David Cromie; Peter Brandon; Thomas Willett; Lawrence R. Martenis, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit)

395 F.3d 318

James T. RODDY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. GRAND TRUNK WESTERN RAILROAD INCORPORATED; Tracy Miller; Lawrence T. Wizauer; David Cromie; Peter Brandon; Thomas Willett; Lawrence R. Martenis, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 02-2499.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: April 28, 2004.

Decided and Filed: January 14, 2005.

Rehearing En Banc Denied March 15, 2005.

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Douglas A. McKinney, Auburn Hills, Michigan, for Appellant.

Gregory A. Clifton, Durkin, McDonnell, Clifton, Davis & O'Donnell, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellees.

Before: MARTIN and ROGERS, Circuit Judges; BELL, Chief District Judge.^*

BELL, Chief District Judge.

Plaintiff-Appellant James T. Roddy ("Roddy") appeals the district court's denial of his motion to remand and the district court's subsequent grant of summary judgment in favor of the Defendants-Appellees, Grand Trunk Western Railroad, Inc., Tracy Miller, Lawrence T. Wizauer, David Cromie, Peter Brandon, Thomas Willett and Lawrence Martenis (collectively referred to as "Grand Trunk"). For the reasons that follow we reverse the denial of the motion to remand, vacate the entry of summary judgment, and remand to the district court with instructions to enter an order remanding the entire case to state court.

I.

Roddy alleged in his complaint that he began his employment for Grand Trunk in 1965 as a brakeman. In 2000 Roddy was employed by Grand Trunk as a conductor. On July 11, 2000, while driving a motor vehicle on personal business, Roddy was subjected to a routine traffic stop by the City of Durand, Michigan, Police Department. He was arrested and jailed on misdemeanor charges including possession of marijuana. Roddy's wife notified Grand Trunk that Roddy was unavailable for work on the night of July 11, 2000.

Roddy alleged in his complaint that the individual defendants, who are employees and/or agents of Grand Trunk, requested, made or maintained a record of information regarding Roddy's misdemeanor arrest or detention. Based upon those records Grand Trunk conducted a formal company investigation on a charge of possession of marijuana and ultimately terminated Roddy's employment. The misdemeanor charges that had been filed against Roddy on July 11, 2000, were eventually dismissed and no conviction resulted.

Roddy commenced this action in the Circuit Court for the County of Shiawassee, State of Michigan, alleging that Grand Trunk's conduct in requesting, making or maintaining a record of the misdemeanor arrest where a conviction did not result, and their conduct in threatening, coercing, and/or ordering Roddy to release information regarding the misdemeanor arrest or face further disciplinary action violated Roddy's rights under the Michigan Elliott Larsen Civil Rights Act, M.C.L. § 37.2205a.¹ The relief Roddy requested included compensatory damages, exemplary damages, attorney fees and injunctive relief. Defendants removed the action to federal court on the basis of federal question jurisdiction. The district court denied Roddy's motion for remand and granted Defendants' motion for summary judgment. Roddy appealed both of these rulings.

II.

The district court denied Roddy's motion to remand based upon its determination that Roddy's claim under the Michigan Elliott Larsen Civil Rights Act was completely preempted by the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. §§ 151-163, 181-188. We review the denial of a motion to remand de novo. Ahearn v. Charter Twp. of Bloomfield, 100 F.3d 451, 453 (6th Cir.1996). In conducting this review we look to the complaint at the time of removal and determine whether the action was properly removed in the first place. Id.

"Only state-court actions that originally could have been filed in federal court may be removed to federal court by the defendant." Caterpillar, Inc. v. Williams, 482 U.S. 386, 392, 107 S.Ct. 2425, 96 L.Ed.2d 318 (1987) (citing 28 U.S.C. § 1441(a)). "As a general rule, absent diversity jurisdiction, a case will not be removable if the complaint does not affirmatively allege a federal claim." Beneficial Nat. Bank v. Anderson, 539 U.S. 1, 6, 123 S.Ct. 2058, 156 L.Ed.2d 1 (2003).

Federal district courts have original jurisdiction over "all civil actions arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States." 28 U.S.C. § 1331. In determining whether a complaint arises under federal law we apply the "well-pleaded complaint" rule. Loftis v. United Parcel Serv., Inc., 342 F.3d 509, 514 (6th Cir.2003). Under this rule "we examine the `well pleaded' allegations of the complaint and ignore potential defenses." Beneficial Nat. Bank, 539 U.S. at 6, 123 S.Ct. 2058. "[F]ederal jurisdiction exists only when a federal question is presented on the face of the plaintiff's properly pleaded complaint." Caterpillar, 482 U.S. at 392, 107 S.Ct. 2425. The well-pleaded complaint rule recognizes that the plaintiff is the master of his complaint. Loftis, 342 F.3d at 515. Accordingly, if the plaintiff chooses to bring a state law claim, that claim cannot generally be "recharacterized" as a federal claim for the purpose of removal. Id. (citing Metro. Life Ins. Co. v. Taylor, 481 U.S. 58, 63, 107 S.Ct. 1542, 95 L.Ed.2d 55 (1987)). It is settled law that "a case may not be removed to federal court on the basis of a federal defense, including the defense of pre-emption, even if the defense is anticipated in the plaintiff's complaint, and even if both parties concede that the federal defense is the only question truly at issue." Caterpillar, 482 U.S. at 393, 107 S.Ct. 2425 (emphasis in original). See also Beneficial Nat. Bank, 539 U.S. at 6, 123 S.Ct. 2058 ("[A] defense that relies on ... the pre-emptive effect of a federal statute will not provide a basis for removal."); Metro. Life Ins. Co. v. Taylor, 481 U.S. 58, 63-64, 107 S.Ct. 1542, 95 L.Ed.2d 55 (1987) ("Federal pre-emption is ordinarily a federal defense to the plaintiff's suit. As a defense, it does not appear on the face of a well-pleaded complaint, and, therefore, does not authorize removal to federal court.").

A state claim may be removed to federal court in only two circumstances — when Congress expressly so provides,² or "when a federal statute wholly displaces the state-law cause of action through complete pre-emption." Beneficial Nat. Bank, 539 U.S. at 8, 123 S.Ct. 2058. The "complete preemption" doctrine, developed in the case law, recognizes that "Congress may so completely pre-empt a particular area that any civil complaint raising this select group of claims is necessarily federal in character." Metro. Life, 481 U.S. at 63-64, 107 S.Ct. 1542. Complete preemption applies where "the pre-emptive force of a statute is so `extraordinary' that it `converts an ordinary state common-law complaint into one stating a federal claim for purposes of the well-pleaded complaint rule.'" Caterpillar, 482 U.S. at 393, 107 S.Ct. 2425 (quoting Metro. Life, 481 U.S. at 65, 107 S.Ct. 1542). "Once an area of state law has been completely pre-empted, any claim purportedly based on that pre-empted state law is considered, from its inception, a federal claim, and therefore arises under federal law." Caterpillar, 482 U.S. at 393, 107 S.Ct. 2425.

To date the Supreme Court has recognized complete preemption under only three statutes: § 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947 (LMRA), 29 U.S.C. § 185, § 502(a) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq., and § 30 of the National Bank Act, 12 U.S.C. §§ 85 & 86. Beneficial Nat. Bank, 539 U.S. at 6-7, 11, 123 S.Ct. 2058. As we noted in Alongi v. Ford Motor Co., 386 F.3d 716 (6th Cir.2004), it is the "unusually powerful pre-emptive force of § 301" that places it in the small category of statutes that not only preempt state law but also authorize removal of actions that sought relief only under state law. Id. at 723-24, (quoting Beneficial Nat. Bank, 539 U.S. at 7, 123 S.Ct. 2058). In those cases where the Supreme Court has found complete preemption, "the federal statutes at issue provided the exclusive cause of action for the claim asserted and also set forth procedures and remedies governing that cause of action." Beneficial Nat. Bank, 539 U.S. at 8, 123 S.Ct. 2058.

Complete preemption that supports removal and ordinary preemption are two distinct concepts. Warner v. Ford Motor Co. 46 F.3d 531, 535 (6th Cir.1995) (en banc). "The fact that a defendant might ultimately prove that a plaintiff's claims are pre-empted under [a federal statute] does not establish that they are removable to federal court." Caterpillar, 482 U.S. at 398, 107 S.Ct. 2425. Complete preemption that permits removal is reserved for statutes "designed to occupy the regulatory field with respect to a particular subject and to create a superseding cause of action" while ordinary preemption applies to statutory sections that arguably supersede conflicting state laws without creating the right of removal. 46 F.3d at 535. "[T]he congressional intent necessary to confer removal jurisdiction upon the federal district courts through complete preemption is expressed through the creation of a parallel federal cause of action that would `convert' a state cause of action into the federal action for purposes of the well-pleaded complaint rule." Strong v. Telectronics Pacing Sys., Inc., 78 F.3d 256, 260 (6th Cir.1996) (citing Warner, 46 F.3d at 534-35).

In the absence of explicit direction from Congress, the Supreme Court has stated that it would be reluctant to find the extraordinary preemptive power that converts an ordinary state common law complaint into one stating a federal claim for purposes of the well-pleaded complaint rule. Metro. Life, 481 U.S. at 64-65, 107 S.Ct. 1542.³ As we recently noted:

Complete preemption is a narrow exception to the well-pleaded complaint rule, whereby plaintiff is master of his complaint and can choose to assert only state law claims, in situations where C...