Jacqueline Palmer v. Wal-Mart Stores

Jacqueline Palmer alleges that on March 13, 1998, she suffered injuries from a fall in a puddle of water while walking in a Sam’s Club store in Texas City. She claimed that she suffered $750, 000 in injuries which included a fractured left hip, injuries to her left leg, back and chest.

The defendant removed the case based on diversity jurisdiction. One of the requirements for diversity jurisdiction was met because the parties agreed that the amount of money involved exceeded 75,000 dollars. Jon Ainsworth, who is the manager of the store, was joined as a defendant. The defendants felt that Mr. Ainsworth was fraudulently joined and should have been dismissed. Mrs. Palmer felt that Mr. Ainsworth was a proper defendant in the case. This caused a lot of controversy because in order to prove that a non-diverse defendant was fraudulently joined into the case to defeat the diversity jurisdiction, the removing party must prove that there was some sort of fraud involved or that there is no possibility that the plaintiff would be able to recover against the non-diverse defendant in the state court. Since the parties both agreed that the manager and the plaintiff were both residents of Texas, the defendants were not alleging any fraud in the argument of jurisdictional facts. The defendants had to establish that Mrs. Palmer had no possibility of recovering against the storemanager. In assessing a no possibility of recovery fraudulent joiner claim, the court had to evaluate all of the contested factual allegations most favorable to the plaintiff.

Mr. Ainsworth was dismissed as a party of this action. The parties were ordered to file no further pleadings on the issues in that court, including motions to reconsider, and in the due course the Court entered a final judgement on the dismissed claim.