FERGISON v. VANDERHALL MOTORWORKS INC, 4:25-cv-00146

Plaintiff Kellie Fergison filed a wrongful death suit following her husband's fatal crash in a Vanderhall Venice vehicle, naming Vanderhall Motorworks, Hall Labs LLC (a Vanderhall shareholder/consultant), General Motors (module supplier), and Extreme Powersports (dealer) as defendants.
Hall Labs filed for bankruptcy in Utah after the lawsuit commenced, and Vanderhall removed the action to federal court citing bankruptcy jurisdiction.
Hall Labs also argued lack of personal jurisdiction in Georgia.
Plaintiff moved to sever claims against the bankrupt Hall Labs from those against the non-debtor defendants and sought a remand to state court.
Defendants Hall Labs and Vanderhall sought to transfer the entire action to federal court in Utah.
The court needed to address severance, remand, transfer, and abstention issues, balancing bankruptcy law and personal jurisdiction concerns.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Severance of Claims	Claims against Hall Labs should be severed	Severance not proper unless parties are misjoined	Claims against Hall Labs severed from non-debtor defendants
Remand of Non-Debtor Claims	Remand non-debtor claims to state court	Non-debtor claims are related to Hall Labs' bankruptcy	Claims against non-debtor defendants remanded to state court
Transfer of Hall Labs Claims	Opposes transfer, seeks remand to state court	Transfer to Utah appropriate under § 157(b)(5)	Claims against Hall Labs transferred to Utah
Abstention	Abstention mandatory/permissive under § 1334(c)	Abstention does not apply	Abstention denied—case transferred to Utah

In re Lemco Gypsum, Inc., 910 F.2d 784 (11th Cir. 1990) (test for bankruptcy-related "related to" jurisdiction)
Coker v. Pan Am. Corp., 950 F.2d 839 (2d Cir. 1991) (transfer of personal injury claims in bankruptcy context)