Choosing a Forum, Removing a Case, and Moving to Remand: A Practical Checklist

Litigation > Jurisdiction, Venue, and Removal | Published 26 March 2025 - Updated 27 July 2026 | UpLaw - uplaw.us

How to Use This Checklist

Plaintiffs work Parts 1 through 4 before filing. Defendants who have been served start at Part 5 and calendar the removal deadline before doing anything else. Both sides should read Part 13. Doctrine is in the comprehensive guide; the plain-language orientation is right case, wrong court; templates are in the toolkit.

⚠️ The two dates that matter most. For a defendant: 30 days from service to remove under 28 U.S.C. § 1446, and one year from commencement in a diversity case. For a plaintiff: 30 days from the notice of removal to move to remand on any ground other than subject matter jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1447.

Part 1 — Build the Citizenship and Contacts Map

☐ List every prospective plaintiff with domicile: state of physical presence plus intent to remain. Note driver's license, voter registration, tax filings, and property.

☐ List every prospective defendant by exact legal name from the secretary of state.

☐ For each corporate defendant, record the state of incorporation and the state of the principal place of business — the headquarters where officers direct and control.

☐ For each LLC, partnership, or trust, trace every member through every layer. Stop only when you reach natural persons or corporations.

☐ Record any foreign party. An alien is not a citizen of any state, and aliens on both sides destroy complete diversity absent a state-citizen anchor.

☐ Check for a legal representative of an estate, minor, or incompetent — their citizenship is that of the represented person.

☐ Check for a direct action against an insurer, which takes the insured's citizenship as well as its own.

☐ For each defendant, list forum contacts — offices, employees, property, bank accounts, registered agent, sales volume, advertising, contracts performed in the forum.

☐ Check whether each corporate defendant is registered to do business in each candidate state, and read that state's registration statute for a consent provision after Mallory.

☐ Determine where the operative events occurred, district by district.

☐ Value the case in good faith and record the components.

Part 2 — Test Federal Subject Matter Jurisdiction

☐ Does a federal claim appear on the face of a well-pleaded complaint? A federal defense or counterclaim does not count.

☐ If not, is there an embedded federal issue that is necessarily raised, actually disputed, substantial, and resolvable without disturbing the federal-state balance under Grable?

☐ Is complete diversity present under 28 U.S.C. § 1332? Compare every plaintiff to every defendant.

☐ Does the amount in controversy exceed $75,000 exclusive of interest and costs? Aggregate a single plaintiff's claims against a single defendant; do not aggregate separate claims of different plaintiffs.

☐ Value any injunctive relief by the object of the litigation, and note the circuit's viewpoint rule.

☐ Include attorney's fees only if a statute or contract makes them recoverable.

☐ If a class is proposed, test CAFA under 28 U.S.C. § 1332(d): more than 100 members, minimal diversity, and more than $5,000,000 aggregate.

☐ Check the CAFA exceptions — local controversy and home state — and note who bears the burden.

☐ Identify supplemental claims under 28 U.S.C. § 1367 and confirm § 1367(b) does not withdraw jurisdiction over them.

Part 3 — Test Personal Jurisdiction and Venue

☐ For each defendant and each candidate forum, ask: is it at home here? Domicile for individuals; incorporation and principal place of business for corporations.

☐ If not at home, identify purposeful contacts with the forum and confirm the claim arises out of or relates to them.

☐ Confirm the contacts are the defendant's own, not the plaintiff's, under Walden.

☐ For products, identify stream-of-commerce-plus evidence — forum-specific design, marketing, distribution, or service channels.

☐ For online conduct, identify targeting evidence — shipping, geotargeted ads, forum accounts, localized pricing or content.

☐ Check for consent — a contractual consent clause, a registration statute, or an appearance without objection.

☐ Check the state long-arm statute and confirm the conduct falls within it, not merely within due process.

☐ Confirm venue under 28 U.S.C. § 1391: defendant residence, substantial events, or fallback.

☐ Check for special venue statutes governing the claim — patent, FELA, securities, and many consumer statutes have their own.

☐ If federal, confirm the Rule 4(k) basis — state long-arm, a nationwide service statute, the bulge rule, or Rule 4(k)(2).

Part 4 — Read the Contract Before Anything Else

☐ Locate every agreement between the parties, including terms of service, purchase orders, and invoices with terms on the reverse.

☐ Find the forum selection clause and determine whether it is mandatory or permissive. "Shall be brought exclusively" is mandatory; "consent to jurisdiction" is not.

☐ Determine the clause's scope. Does it cover tort and statutory claims, or only claims "arising under" the agreement?

☐ Find the choice-of-law clause and confirm it is separate from the forum clause.

☐ Find any arbitration agreement and read the delegation clause, class waiver, and carve-outs. 9 U.S.C. § 2 makes it enforceable on ordinary contract grounds.

☐ Check for a service-of-process agent designation.

☐ Check for a jury waiver and whether it is enforceable in the candidate forums.

☐ Check for a contractual limitations period shorter than the statutory one.

☐ Check for notice or cure conditions that must be satisfied before suit.

☐ If arbitration applies, decide whether to demand it or wait — and remember that litigating the merits can waive it.

Part 5 — You Have Been Served: The First Week

☐ Record the exact date and manner of service on each defendant. The removal clock runs separately for each.

☐ Calendar the 30-day removal deadline and a working deadline five days earlier.

☐ Calendar the one-year outer limit measured from commencement of the state action, per 28 U.S.C. § 1446(c).

☐ Calendar the state-court response deadline in case removal does not happen.

☐ Determine whether service was proper. Improper service is a defense under Rule 12(b)(5) and is waived if omitted from the first Rule 12 motion.

☐ Notify insurers and tender the defense.

☐ Issue a litigation hold.

☐ Identify all co-defendants and whether each has been served.

☐ Pull the state court docket and collect every process, pleading, and order served — all of it must be attached to the notice of removal.

Part 6 — Decide Whether to Remove

☐ Confirm original federal jurisdiction exists. Removal adds nothing that was not already available at filing.

☐ Confirm no properly joined and served defendant is a citizen of the forum state in a diversity case, per 28 U.S.C. § 1441(b)(2).

☐ Obtain written consent from every properly joined and served defendant. One holdout defeats removal.

☐ Assess whether a non-diverse defendant was fraudulently joined — is there truly no possibility of recovery against it under state law? Resolve all doubts against removal.

☐ Assess the amount in controversy and assemble evidence: settlement demands, itemized damages, the value of the injunction, contract sums, statutory penalties, and recoverable fees.

☐ Compare the two forums honestly. Judge, jury pool, speed, motion practice, appellate law, and the law that will apply.

☐ Decide whether removal will draw a fee award if it fails. Section 1447(c) permits fees where the removing party lacked an objectively reasonable basis.

☐ If CAFA applies, use 28 U.S.C. § 1453 — no unanimity, no one-year limit, and any defendant may remove.

☐ If a federal officer or agency is involved, consider 28 U.S.C. § 1442, which has no unanimity or forum-defendant limits and permits appellate review of remand.

☐ If an international arbitration agreement is involved, consider 9 U.S.C. § 205 — removable at any time before trial.

Part 7 — Prepare and File the Notice of Removal

☐ Draft a short and plain statement of the grounds for jurisdiction — not a brief, but specific and complete.

☐ Plead every party's citizenship affirmatively, tracing LLC and partnership membership.

☐ Plead the amount in controversy with support, and attach a declaration if the complaint does not state a number.

☐ Attach all process, pleadings, and orders served on all defendants.

☐ Attach written consents from every properly joined and served defendant, or state their consent in the notice with counsel's signature.

☐ File in the district and division embracing the state court.

☐ Serve written notice on all adverse parties promptly.

☐ File a copy with the state court clerk — this is what actually effects removal and stays the state proceeding.

☐ File the corporate disclosure statement and any district-specific removal supplement.

☐ Calendar the response deadline — 7 days from removal or the remainder of the state period under Rule 81(c).

☐ Re-file or renew any pending state-court motion in the federal court.

☐ Preserve all Rule 12 defenses. Removal does not waive personal jurisdiction, venue, process, or service — but the first Rule 12 motion must include them.

Part 8 — If You Are the Plaintiff and the Case Was Removed

☐ Calendar 30 days from the notice of removal for a procedural-defect motion.

☐ Audit the notice for defects: late filing; a missing consent; an unserved defendant treated as consenting; a served forum defendant; a defective allegation of citizenship; a bare assertion of the amount.

☐ Test citizenship independently. LLC membership is the most common failure.

☐ Test the amount in controversy. A conclusory assertion is not evidence, and doubts are resolved in favor of remand.

☐ Consider a binding stipulation capping damages below the threshold where the claim genuinely is worth less — and understand it will bind you.

☐ Assess whether a CAFA exception applies and gather class-citizenship evidence, on which you bear the burden.

☐ Preserve the subject matter jurisdiction argument, which has no deadline.

☐ Request fees under 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c) where the removal lacked an objectively reasonable basis, and document your costs.

☐ Understand that a remand order is usually unreviewable under § 1447(d) — with exceptions for federal officer, civil rights, and CAFA removals.

Part 9 — Contesting Personal Jurisdiction or Venue

☐ Raise every Rule 12 defense in one motion. Rule 12(g) forbids a second.

☐ Support the motion with a declaration from someone with actual knowledge, stating specifics: incorporation, headquarters, registration, offices, employees, property, accounts, forum revenue, advertising.

☐ Avoid conclusory declarations. "Defendant does not do substantial business in the forum" invites jurisdictional discovery.

☐ Address reasonableness factors where contacts are arguable — burden on the defendant, forum interest, plaintiff's interest, efficiency, and shared state policies.

☐ If opposing, request jurisdictional discovery with specificity — identify the facts sought and their relevance.

☐ Do not seek affirmative relief while a personal jurisdiction objection is pending; forfeiture by conduct is real.

☐ Consider moving to transfer in the alternative under 28 U.S.C. § 1404 or § 1406.

☐ Where limitations have run, ask for transfer under 28 U.S.C. § 1631 rather than dismissal — the filing date is preserved.

Part 10 — Moving to Transfer

☐ Confirm the case might have been brought in the proposed transferee district, or that all parties consent.

☐ Identify the private factors with specifics: named witnesses and where they live, whether they are within the subpoena power under Rule 45, where the documents and systems are, and the cost of attendance.

☐ Identify the public factors: median time to disposition in each district, local interest, familiarity with governing law, and jury burden.

☐ If a forum selection clause applies, say so first. A valid mandatory clause eliminates the plaintiff's deference and the private factors.

☐ Address choice of law. Ordinary § 1404 transfers carry the transferor's choice-of-law rules; forum-clause transfers do not.

☐ File early. Delay undercuts a convenience argument and can look like forum shopping after an adverse ruling.

☐ Remember the appellate posture: transfer orders are reviewable only by mandamus.

Part 11 — Foreign Parties and Sovereign Defendants

☐ Identify whether any defendant is a foreign state, political subdivision, agency, or instrumentality under 28 U.S.C. § 1603.

☐ If so, identify the applicable exception to immunity under 28 U.S.C. § 1605 — waiver, commercial activity, expropriation, property rights, or non-commercial tort — before filing.

☐ Follow the exclusive service hierarchy of 28 U.S.C. § 1608. Deviations are not harmless.

☐ Plan for execution separately. Jurisdictional immunity and execution immunity under §§ 1609–1611 are different questions.

☐ For private foreign defendants, plan Hague service under Rule 4(f) and budget three to twelve months. See the cross-border checklist.

☐ Consider Rule 4(k)(2) where a foreign defendant is not amenable to suit in any single state on a federal claim.

☐ Consider whether a foreign forum is genuinely adequate before conceding a forum non conveniens motion, and negotiate conditions: consent to jurisdiction, limitations waiver, and agreement to satisfy the judgment.

Part 12 — Class Actions and Consolidated Proceedings

☐ Test CAFA jurisdiction and its exceptions before filing or removing.

☐ Consider whether the case will be swept into an MDL under 28 U.S.C. § 1407, and whether that is desirable.

☐ If direct filing into an MDL is permitted, address which forum's law applies in the direct-filing order rather than litigating it later.

☐ Check for parallel filings and evaluate the first-to-file rule and any anticipatory declaratory judgment action.

☐ Consider consolidation under Rule 42 for related cases in the same district.

☐ Note that a CAFA remand order may be appealed within 10 days under 28 U.S.C. § 1453(c).

Part 13 — Mistakes This Checklist Prevents

☐ Pleading residence instead of domicile and losing diversity jurisdiction after a year of discovery. ☐ Treating an LLC as a corporation and never tracing its members. ☐ Missing the 30-day removal window because the clock was measured from filing rather than service. ☐ Removing on day 370 of a diversity case and running into the one-year bar. ☐ Removing without every served defendant's consent. ☐ Removing a case in which a served defendant is a citizen of the forum state. ☐ Asserting the amount in controversy without evidence and drawing a fee award. ☐ Filing a merits motion first and waiving personal jurisdiction under Rule 12(h). ☐ Missing the 30-day remand deadline for procedural defects. ☐ Assuming a "consent to jurisdiction" clause is an exclusive forum clause. ☐ Ignoring a mandatory forum clause until after the pleadings close. ☐ Serving a foreign sovereign by any method other than the § 1608 hierarchy. ☐ Forgetting that a transfer under § 1404 carries the transferor's choice-of-law rules.

Part 14 — Decision Trees

Can this case be removed?

1. Would a federal court have had original jurisdiction at filing? If no → stop.
2. Diversity only? Is any properly joined and served defendant a citizen of the forum state? If yes → stop (unless CAFA).
3. Has every properly joined and served defendant consented? If no → stop.
4. Is the notice within 30 days of that defendant's service, and within one year of commencement? If no → stop unless bad faith is shown.
5. All clear → remove, attaching everything and supporting the amount.

Should I move to remand?

1. Is there a defect in subject matter jurisdiction? → Move any time.
2. Is there a procedural defect? → Move within 30 days or lose it.
3. Is a CAFA exception available? → Move, and prepare class-citizenship evidence.
4. Do you want to be in federal court anyway? → Say so and move on; forum fights consume months.

Where should I file?

1. Intersect the states where every defendant is subject to jurisdiction.
2. Within that set, determine which forums give you the substantive law you want.
3. Within that set, compare speed, jury pool, and judicial experience.
4. Check the contract for a mandatory clause, which may end the analysis.
5. Assume removal and decide whether the federal forum is acceptable.

Part 15 — Building the Evidentiary Record

Jurisdictional motions are won on declarations and documents, not on argument. Assemble the record before you brief.

☐ Secretary of state records for every entity party: formation, status, registered agent, and — critically — the registration statute of each state where a defendant is qualified.

☐ The defendant's own marketing. Screenshots with dates, forum-specific landing pages, geotargeted advertising, and any "we serve [state]" language.

☐ Transaction records. Invoices, purchase orders, shipping manifests, and payment histories showing forum-directed commerce and its volume.

☐ Contracts performed in the forum, with the performance obligations highlighted.

☐ Employment and contractor records showing forum-based personnel.

☐ Property, lease, and account records in the forum.

☐ Tax registrations and sales-tax collection in the forum, which are strong evidence of purposeful availment.

☐ The corporate organizational chart for LLC and partnership membership tracing, obtained by demand or from public filings.

☐ The complete state-court file for removal, in the order the clerk maintains it.

☐ A damages itemization supporting the amount in controversy, with the assumptions stated.

☐ A declarant with actual knowledge for the defense — an officer or manager, not counsel — who can state facts rather than characterizations.

☐ Prior litigation in the candidate forum by either party, which bears on both consent and reasonableness.

Part 16 — Preserving Every Defense in Order

The sequence below preserves everything. Departing from it forfeits defenses in ways that cannot be repaired.

☐ Step 1 — Do not appear generally in state court before deciding on removal, if the forum treats a general appearance as consent.

☐ Step 2 — Remove first if you intend to remove. Removal does not waive Rule 12 defenses, but litigating in state court can.

☐ Step 3 — File one consolidated Rule 12 motion raising, in this order: subject matter jurisdiction; personal jurisdiction; venue; process; service; failure to state a claim; failure to join a required party under Rule 19.

☐ Step 4 — If you are also moving to compel arbitration, do it in or before that motion, and avoid merits litigation in the meantime.

☐ Step 5 — If the motion is denied, re-plead the defenses in the answer. They are preserved for the record and for appeal.

☐ Step 6 — Avoid affirmative relief while jurisdictional objections are pending: no counterclaims that are not compulsory, no affirmative motions beyond scheduling.

☐ Step 7 — Press the objection. A preserved but unpursued defense is forfeited in many circuits after substantial merits litigation.

☐ Step 8 — Renew at summary judgment and in the pretrial order if jurisdictional facts remain disputed, since a prima facie showing at the pleading stage does not establish jurisdiction conclusively.

⭐ A note on economy. Not every available forum fight is worth having. A removal that will be remanded, a transfer motion that will be denied, and a jurisdictional objection over a defendant that will be served properly next week all cost money and credibility. Choose the fights that change the law that applies, the jury that decides, or the year in which the case is tried — and concede the rest quickly and gracefully. Where a fight is worth having, the toolkit contains the notice, the consent, the declaration, and the remand motion in usable form, and the pleading toolkit contains the Rule 12 grid that keeps the defenses in order.

Related Documents

• Jurisdiction, Venue, and Removal: A Comprehensive Guide to Choosing and Contesting the Forum
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• The Forum Selection, Removal, and Remand Toolkit
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