Removal

The exam loves to test the 30-day clock and who controls it. The trigger is receipt of the first paper—the initial pleading, or later an amended pleading, motion, or other paper—from which removability can first be ascertained, and each defendant gets its own 30 days, so a later-served defendant can remove even after an earlier defendant’s window lapsed. A favorite pattern adds a non-diverse defendant later or alleges the plaintiff bumped the amount in controversy; watch whether removability arose at filing or only afterward.

The classic trap is remand timing: a defect in removal procedure (no unanimous consent, late filing, forum-defendant violation) must be raised by motion within 30 days of removal or it is waived, but lack of subject-matter jurisdiction can be raised anytime and remanded sua sponte. Don’t confuse removal with venue—removal needs no proper venue in the original state court; the case simply lands in the embracing federal district. And removal merely relocates a case the federal court could already hear; it never manufactures jurisdiction that didn’t otherwise exist.