Quenton Shelby v. Oak River Insurance Company

This action was originally brought in state court by Missouri resident Quenton

Shelby, who sought to recover from Oak River Insurance Company (Oak River) on

a judgment entered in a prior class action that Shelby had brought against a business

insured by Oak River. Oak River removed the state-court action to federal court,

under the Class Action Fairness Act, see 28 U.S.C. § 1332(d). Shelby then moved to

remand the case back to state court, arguing that the removal was untimely. The

district court1 denied his motion to remand, and thereafter, granted summary judgment

in favor of Oak River. Shelby now appeals the denial of his motion to remand and the

adverse grant of summary judgment.

To begin, we decline to decide whether the district court erred in denying

Shelby’s motion to remand. Cf. Quintero Cmty. Ass’n Inc. v. F.D.I.C., 792 F.3d

1002, 1007-08 (8th Cir. 2015) (declining to decide whether district court erred in

denying motion to remand based on timeliness of removal because any such error

would not be reversible, as case had proceeded to summary judgment and timeliness

of removal is non-jurisdictional, procedural defect). Furthermore, upon careful

de novo review of the district court’s summary judgment decision, we agree with the

court’s reasoning and conclusion. See Sims v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 894

F.3d 941, 944 (8th Cir. 2018) (grant of summary judgment is reviewed de novo).

We therefore affirm. See 8th Cir. R. 47B.