Professional Negligence Law Reporter

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a district court had properly remanded a nursing home negligence and elder neglect suit back to state court for lack of federal subject matter jurisdiction.

Eric Holloway filed suit against skilled nursing facility Centinela Skilled Nursing & Wellness Centre West, LLC, and others, alleging negligence and elder neglect. The defendants removed the action to federal court on the basis of federal jurisdiction under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act, 42 U.S.C. §247d-6d, and federal officer removal jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §1442(a)(1). The federal district court remanded the case to state court, citing a lack of federal subject matter jurisdiction.

Affirming, the Ninth Circuit held that the district court lacked federal subject matter jurisdiction under the federal removal statute because Centinela’s actions were not taken under a federal officer’s directions. Although the court acknowledged that Centinela was subject to federal laws and regulations throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the court found that simply complying with a law or regulation is not sufficient to bring a private person within the scope of the federal officer removal statute.

The court also found that the PREP Act is not a complete preemption statute in that it does not provide a federal statutory scheme so comprehensive that it entirely supplants state law causes of action. Citing case law, the court noted that although the PREP Act may preempt some state law claims, any such conflict preemption would be an affirmative defense and would not create federal subject matter jurisdiction. Finding that the plaintiff’s state law causes of action did not necessarily raise substantial federal issues, the court also determined that the district court did not have embedded federal question jurisdiction.

Consequently, the district court’s decision was proper.

Citation: Holloway v. Centinela Skilled Nursing & Wellness Centre West, LLC, 2023 WL 5163417 (9th Cir. Aug. 11, 2023).

Plaintiff counsel: Allen Oghassabian and Christian Oliver, both of San Diego.