The impact of potential individual liability on removal of action to federal court.

The plaintiff filed a complaint in state court alleging violations of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD) and naming his employer and certain individual supervisors. After a year of discovery, including the plaintiff’s deposition, the employer sought to remove the claim to federal court based upon diversity grounds, arguing that the individual defendants were fraudulently joined since no viable claim or cause of action existed against them. In granting the plaintiff’s motion for remand, Judge Shipp concluded that the NJLAD recognizes individual liability for persons who aid or abet the alleged discriminatory conduct and that the court could not determine, as a matter of law, that the individual defendants were not liable to the plaintiff.

^{Case Law Alerts, 1st Quarter, January 2021 is prepared by Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin to provide information on recent developments of interest to our readers. This publication is not intended to provide legal advice for a specific situation or to create an attorney-client relationship. Copyright © 2021 Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, all rights reserved. This article may not be reprinted without the express written permission of our firm.}