Washington v. BP Products North America Inc., 4:23-cv-02781

Plaintiff La Brandon Washington filed a motion to remand a case against BP Products North America Inc. in the Southern District of Texas.
The core dispute is whether BP's principal place of business (its "nerve center") is in Texas or Illinois, which affects federal court jurisdiction and application of the forum-defendant rule under 28 U.S.C. § 1441(b)(2).
Washington argued that BP's nerve center is in Texas, referencing BP’s Texas tax filings, corporate registration documents, and references to Houston as the parent company’s headquarters.
BP argued and presented sworn affidavits showing that its top executives and actual decision-making functions are headquartered in Illinois.
The court relied on the "nerve center" test articulated in Hertz Corp. v. Friend to determine the principal place of business.
Judge Hanks ultimately rejected Washington's evidence and denied the motion to remand, finding the nerve center to be in Illinois.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Location of BP's principal place of business	BP’s nerve center is in Texas, due to tax and corporate filings in Houston	BP’s actual direction and control occurs in Illinois per executive affidavits	Nerve center is Illinois
Weight of corporate filings for jurisdiction	Texas Franchise Tax forms and corporate registration establish Texas as the nerve center	Corporate filings alone are not determinative under federal law	Filings not sufficient
Relevance of parent company’s location	Parent's Houston location imputes Texas citizenship to BP	BP is a separate entity; parent location is irrelevant	Parent location not dispositive
Applicability of forum-defendant rule	Rule prevents removal because BP is a Texas entity	Rule does not apply because BP’s nerve center is Illinois	Rule does not apply

Hertz Corp. v. Friend, 559 U.S. 77 (2010) (establishes the "nerve center" test for determining a corporation's principal place of business for federal jurisdiction)