HARTFORD FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY v. HARLEYSVILLE MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY

No. 12-1761.

736 F.3d 255 (2013)

HARTFORD FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. HARLEYSVILLE MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY; Assurance Company of America; First Financial Insurance Company; First Mercury Insurance Company; G.R. Hammonds Inc., Defendants-Appellees.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Decided: November 15, 2013.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

ARGUED: Steven M. Klepper , Kramon & Graham, P.A., Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellant.

David Leonard Brown , Nelson Levine De Luca & Hamilton, LLC, Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellees.

ON BRIEF: Lee H. Ogburn , Kramon & Graham, P.A., Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellant.

David G. Harris, II , Nelson Levine De Luca & Hamilton, LLC, Greensboro, North Carolina; Robert C. Calamari , Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for Appellee Harleysville Mutual Insurance Company. Phillip E. Reeves , Elizabeth J. Smith , Gallivan White & Boyd, P.A., Greenville, South Carolina, for Appellee Assurance Company of America. M. Dawes Cooke, Jr. , Barnwell Whaley Patterson Helms, LLC, Charleston, South Carolina; Gary S. Kull , Carroll McNulty Kull, LLC, Basking Ridge , New Jersey, for Appellee First Mercury Insurance Company. Mark S. Barrow , Sweeny Wingate & Barrow, P.A., Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellee First Financial Insurance Company.

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge WILKINSON wrote the opinion, in which Judge DUNCAN and Judge AGEE joined.


WILKINSON, Circuit Judge:

Nominal parties are excepted from the requirement that all defendants join in or consent to removal to federal court. This case concerns whether insured contractor G.R. Hammonds, Inc. ("Hammonds") is a nominal party in a contribution suit between its insurers. We affirm the district court's holding that Hammonds is a nominal party for purposes of the nominal party exception to the rule of unanimity governing removal.

I.

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