Oscar Cumpian v. Alcoa World Alumina, L.L.C., et a, 910 F.3d 216

Plaintiff Oscar Cumpian, a Texas resident, sued Alcoa World Alumina L.L.C., Palacios Marine & Industrial Coatings, Inc. (PMIC), and another defendant in Texas state court after suffering chemical burns from caustic liquid at Alcoa’s Port Comfort plant.
Alcoa removed the case to federal court asserting diversity jurisdiction and claiming PMIC (a Texas citizen) was improperly joined to defeat diversity; Alcoa identified its out-of-state members for citizenship.
Cumpian’s complaint alleged PMIC was contracted to monitor, drain, and clear the relevant tank/blind and negligently failed to isolate/drain or warn, causing injury when a tagged pipe still contained caustic liquid.
The district court denied Cumpian’s remand motion, concluded PMIC was improperly joined after a summary inquiry, granted summary judgment for Alcoa, and dismissed the state-law claims.
On appeal, the Fifth Circuit reviewed whether the district court erred in denying remand (improper-joinder analysis) and vacated, holding the district court lacked jurisdiction and ordering remand to state court.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether federal court had diversity jurisdiction because PMIC was improperly joined	Cumpian argued he stated plausible negligence claims against PMIC and remand was required	Alcoa argued PMIC was improperly joined; evidence showed contractors were prohibited from performing TLV so PMIC could not be liable	Court held PMIC was not improperly joined; remand required because Alcoa did not negate a possibility of recovery against PMIC
Proper standard for determining improper joinder at removal	Cumpian urged that the complaint should be assessed under the Rule 12(b)(6) standard and that lack of plaintiff evidence is not fatal pre-discovery	Alcoa relied on Smallwood summary-inquiry authority and offered affidavits that contractors do not perform TLV to negate liability	Court held the district court erred to the extent it treated Alcoa’s affidavits as dispositive; defendant bears burden to present discrete, undisputed facts negating any possibility of recovery; Alcoa failed to meet that burden

Tewari De-Ox Sys., Inc. v. Mountain States/Rosen, Ltd. Liab. Corp., 757 F.3d 481 (5th Cir.) (LLC citizenship determined by its members)
Davidson v. Georgia-Pacific, L.L.C., 819 F.3d 758 (5th Cir.) (standards for reviewing improper-joinder determinations)
Mumfrey v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc., 719 F.3d 392 (5th Cir.) (apply 12(b)(6) standard on improper-joinder review)
Smallwood v. Ill. Cent. R.R. Co., 385 F.3d 568 (5th Cir.) (allows limited summary inquiry when pleadings misstated facts; defendant must show discrete and undisputed facts precluding recovery)
Travis v. Irby, 326 F.3d 644 (5th Cir.) (discusses fraudulent/improper joinder principles)