Reported / Citable
Background
Cameron Parish, joined by Louisiana as an intervenor, sued oil and gas companies in state court over alleged damage to Louisiana’s coast. Devon Energy removed the case under the federal officer removal statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1442, relying on conservation activities involving the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge and a co-defendant’s World War II aviation-fuel production under federal contracts.
After the co-defendant settled, the district court concluded that Devon had not satisfied the statute’s “acting under” requirement and remanded the case to state court. Devon appealed under 28 U.S.C. § 1447(d) and asked the Fifth Circuit to recognize an automatic stay of the remand or, alternatively, grant a discretionary stay.
The Court’s Holding
The Fifth Circuit held that Devon’s remand appeal automatically stayed the district court’s remand order once Devon’s § 1447(d) notice of appeal was docketed. Applying the jurisdictional principle from Griggs v. Provident Consumer Discount Co. and Coinbase, Inc. v. Bielski, the court reasoned that allowing state-court litigation to proceed could defeat the purpose of Congress’s authorization of an interlocutory appeal concerning the proper forum.
The court further held that § 1447(c) did not displace that automatic-stay rule, even though the remand order had already been transmitted to state court. Nor did the Anti-Injunction Act bar relief: the stay operated on the federal remand order and thereby deprived the state court of jurisdiction, and, alternatively, any restraint on state proceedings was necessary in aid of the Fifth Circuit’s appellate jurisdiction. The court granted a stay pending appeal but did not decide whether Devon’s removal was proper on the merits.
Key Takeaways
- A § 1447(d) appeal from a remand in a federal-officer removal case automatically stays the remand once the notice of appeal is docketed.
- The automatic stay applies even if the district court has already transmitted the remand order to the state court.
- The Anti-Injunction Act does not prevent the stay because it preserves the appellate court’s jurisdiction over the forum dispute.
Why It Matters
The published order establishes a Fifth Circuit rule preventing state-court proceedings from continuing while an appeal tests whether a federal-officer case belongs in federal court. Parties pursuing qualifying § 1447(d) appeals need not satisfy the traditional discretionary-stay factors to suspend the remand.
The ruling preserves the practical value of appellate review by avoiding simultaneous litigation in state court while the Fifth Circuit decides the proper forum. It addresses only the effect of the appeal on the remand order, not the ultimate validity of Devon’s asserted grounds for federal-officer removal.