In Rock Hemp Corp. v. Dunn, Case No. 22-1171 (78h Cir. October 11, 2022) the Seventh Circuit affirmed a Wisconsin District Court that denied plaintiff’s motion to remand its breach of contract action back to state court The case had been removed to federal court and then the District judge granted defendants’ motion to dismiss based on the arbitration clause contained in the contract at issue. The Seventh Circuit found that the trial court could properly reject plaintiff’s claim that removal, which occurred months after case had been filed and certain discovery had occurred, was untimely, where: (1) complaint did not specify amount in controversy; (2) instant removal occurred seven days after plaintiff’s counsel emailed defendants’ counsel with statement that plaintiff was seeking $250,000 in damages; and (3) said email was first notice that case was removable. The Court determined that the removal was thus timely, since it occurred within 30 days of said notice.
The mere fact that defendants filed in state court a motion to dismiss and began discovery prior to removing case did not constitute waiver of any right to remove case. Also, the District Judge did not err in dismissing the case based on the arbitration clause, because plaintiff’s claims came within scope of said clause. Moreover, plaintiff’s contention that defendants had fraudulently misrepresented subject-matter of contract did not require different result, where plaintiff never claimed that it was fraudulently induced into agreeing to arbitrate said issue.