The Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that a failure of the defendants to comply with the Rule of Unanimity for removal can be remedied by the actions of the non-signing defendant. In Samaan v. St. Joseph Hospital, et al, ____ F.3d. ____ (1st Cir. 2012) 2012 WL 34262 one of the two defendants did not sign the notice of removal and the plaintiff moved to remand because all of the defendants did not sign the removal papers nor otherwise consent in writing to removal. The Court of Appeals in affirming the district court’s refusal to remand said:
“To be sure, the better practice is for all defendants to sign the notice of removal. Under our precedent, however, the effective consent to the removal can be manifested in other ways. Here, the hospital did not sign the notice but filed an answer in the federal court and vigorously opposed the plaintiffs motion to remand”.
The court held that the hospital clearly communicated its desire to be in federal court and no more was necessary to cure the technical defect in the notice of removal.