It is a truism that defense counsel often prefer federal court. In removed cases, however, the pursuit of a federal forum comes at a high cost when a defendant defeats a motion to remand and succeeds on the merits, but an appellate court reverses on jurisdictional grounds and sends the case back to state court long after the removal occurred. The defendant is then faced with the prospect of starting over in state court after years in litigation.

This is exactly what happened in Palmquist v. Hain Celestial Group, No. 23-40197 (5th Cir. May 28, 2024).