Congratulations to Roz Bienvenu, Justin Kaufman, and trial counsel, Jim Hada, who successfully moved to remand a case from federal to state court in New Mexico for the family of a student killed in a bus crash returning from a college golf tournament. The district court held that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations do not create a private right of action for personal injury or wrongful death, and the plaintiffs’ complaint did not raise federal questions turning on the substantive construction of federal law. Therefore, the defendant’s removal of the case to federal court was improper. The case is Lopez v. Univ. of the Southwest, No. 2:23-cv-00327-DHU-JHR, 2024 WL 68531 (D.N.M. Jan. 5, 2024).
