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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF MARYLAND
CHAMBERS OF ANDRE M. DAVIS UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE U.S. COURTHOUSE 101 W. LOMBARD STREET BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 21201 (410) 962-0801 FAX (410) 962-0820 MDDAMDChambers@mdd.uscourts.gov

January 24, 2006 MEMORANDUM TO COUNSEL RE: Bedell v. Board of Education of Kent County Civil No. AMD 05-3340 I have studied carefully the briefing on plaintiffs' motion to remand and I am satisfied that no hearing is necessary. I have elected to rule in this informal manner. There is no dispute that the Notice of Removal was filed (on December 13, 2005) only by defendants Price, Kirby and Beck. Further, there is no dispute that, for the removal to have been timely, defendants Board of Education, Ward, and Sampson must have timely consented to the removal, in an acceptable manner, no later than 30 days after service on the first-served defendant or 30 days after service on a later-served defendant who was served within 30 days of service on the first-served defendant (which itself timely removed the case). See Guyon v. Basso, --- F.Supp.2d ----, 2005 WL 3338673, at *4-5 (E.D.Va., Dec.8, 2005), cited in Jackson v. John Akridge Management Co., 2006 WL 66669 (D.Md., Jan.9, 2006). Finally, there is no dispute that even in federal question cases, courts in this circuit ``are obliged to narrowly interpret removal jurisdiction because the removal of proceedings from state courts raises `significant federalism concerns.'" Sonoco Products Co. v. Physicians Health Plan, Inc., 338 F.3d 366, 370 (4th Cir. 2003) (quoting Mulcahey v. Columbia Organic Chems. Co., Inc., 29 F.3d 148, 151 (4th Cir.1994)). Thus, boiled to its essence, the question here, as you recognize, is whether it is sufficient to satisfy the unanimity and timeliness requirements that counsel for the first served/removing defendant simply to recite that, "[t]he other Defendants in this case, namely, the Board of Education of Kent County, Bonnie Ward and Gordon Sampson, consent to this removal, and the undersigned has been expressly authorized by their attorney to so state." Notice of Removal at

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Maryland Law