Non-Forum Defendant’s Removal of Xarelto Case Violated ‘Forum Defendant’ Rule, Pa. Federal Judge Says

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge has remanded a Xarelto injury case to state court, finding Janssen Ortho LLC’s removal of the action to federal court violated the “forum defendant” rule because three of the defendants are Pennsylvania citizens and therefore “forum defendants.”

On June 9, Judge Joel Slomsky of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania rejected Janssen’s argument that removal by a non-forum defendant prior to the service of a forum defendant is permitted. The drug maker’s interpretation of the forum defendant rule “would lead to an absurd result that Congress could not have intended,” …