Submitted: August 26, 2009
Before: MINER, POOLER, and KATZMANN, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiff-appellant Greg Bounds, a citizen of Mississippi, appeals from an order entered in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Weinstein, J.) denying reconsideration of a judgment entered in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi (Starrett, J.). In re Zyprexa Prods. Liab. Litig., Nos. 04-MD-1596; 08-cv-1364, 2008 WL 2466208 (E.D.N.Y. June 18, 2008). That judgment denied a motion by Bounds to remand this action to the Circuit Court of Forrest County, Mississippi following its removal to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi by defendant-appellee Eli Lilly Company, a citizen of Indiana. Greg Bounds v. Pine Belt Mental Health Care Res., No. 2:07cv356-KS-MTP, 2008 WL 552865 (S.D. Miss. Feb. 27, 2008). The judgment also granted a motion by defendants-appellees Pine Belt Mental Health Care Resources, Walid RahhalMohamed, M.D., Chris Lamousin, M.D. and Asim Ulusarac, M.D., all citizens of Mississippi, to dismiss for failure to state a claim against them (together, “the Mississippi citizen defendants”). Id. at *1, *4. In the complaint, Bounds pleaded, inter alia, negligence and malpractice claims against the Mississippi citizen defendants and product liability claims against the Eli Lilly Company. Id. at *1. The District Court determined: (1) that plaintiff had failed to comply with the notice requirements of the Mississippi Tort Claims Act (the “Act”), requiring dismissal of the claims against the Mississippi citizen defendants; (2) that the said defendants therefore were improperly joined with the Eli Lilly Company in the removed state action; and (3) that diversity jurisdiction accordingly lies in federal court such as to warrant denial of remand. Id. at *1, *3.
