A recent case brought in the United States District Court in Alabama was the result of a fire that started in a kitchen. The alarm system did not alert the occupants of the fire or notify authorities. The occupants subsequently died. The plaintiffs, as personal representatives of the estates of decedents, filed a complaint in state court alleging they died because of the negligence and breach of contract of the installing alarm company and the monitoring company.
The defendant monitoring company, based in another state, moved to have the action moved to federal court, contending that since the installer of the system assigned all contractual rights and liabilities to the monitoring company, and the installer was no longer in business, that the plaintiffs fraudulently joined the local installer as a defendant to destroy federal jurisdiction. The court granted the plaintiffs’ motion to remand back to the state court.