2017: Fitzpatrick Voted To Shift Some Claims To Federal Courts From
State Courts, Which "Tend To Be More Sympathetic To Plaintiffs." In
March 2017, Fitzpatrick voted for The Innocent Party Protection Act.
According to Congressional Quarterly, the legislation "would [have] -
for purposes of determining whether certain lawsuits are sent back from
federal to state courts -- establish[ed] a new standard for
determining whether a defendant has been fraudulently joined to a case.
Under the measure, federal courts would have [had] to deny motions to
remand a case back to state court if the court finds that there was
fraud in the jurisdictional claim, the plaintiff's claim against that
defendant is not possible or plausible under state law, or the plaintiff
did not make their claim in good faith." In addition, according to the
Washington Post, "Late Thursday, the House narrowly passed two of the
four measures along party lines: The Innocent Party Protection Act would
shift some claims to the federal system from state courts, which tend to
be more sympathetic to plaintiffs." The vote was on passage. The House
passed the bill by a vote of 224 to 194. The Senate took no substantive
action on the legislation. [House Vote 152,
3/9/17; Congressional
Quarterly, 3/9/17; Washington Post,
3/9/17;
Congressional Actions, H.R.
725]