Second Circuit -- Brown v. Eli Lilly & Co.

Brown v. Eli Lilly & Co.

Heavy-duty FRCP.

Quick read:


(1) Consent order stamped by clerk of court / staff attorney claiming not to prejudice future appeals and referencing 42(b) does not preclude entry of final judgment, despite assertions by court staff that the (somewhat flawed) entry of final judgment was a nullity.  Appeals clock runs from flawed filing.


(2) Action can be non-diverse at time of removal to fed courts as long as the non-diversity is cured before final judgment.  [If TMB's memory serves, this might be a circuit split - there was something in dicta from one of the other circuits in the last few days about diversity being requisite at both removal and judgment to survive appeals challenge.]

(3) Actions of co-defts whose time to appeal has passed cannot be re-examined to create a PF case for deft still in the thick of things.