28 U.S.C. § 1448
Section 1448 · Process after removal
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 140 court decisions — leading case Polizzi v. Cowles Magazines, Inc. (1953)
Most recently applied in Michael Mayes v. American Hallmark Insurance Co (August 2024)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 28 U.S.C. § 1441 · 28 U.S.C. § 1446 · 28 U.S.C. § 1447
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
In all cases removed from any State court to any district court of the United States in which any one or more of the defendants has not been served with process or in which the service has not been perfected prior to removal, or in which process served proves to be defective, such process or service may be completed or new process issued in the same manner as in cases originally filed in such district court.
This section shall not deprive any defendant upon whom process is served after removal of his right to move to remand the case.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §83 (Apr. 16, 1920, ch. 146, 41 Stat. 554).
Words “district court of the United States” were substituted for “United States Court,” because only the district courts now possess jurisdiction over removed civil and criminal cases.
Changes were made in phraseology.
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Application of Rules, see rule 81, Appendix to this title.
Cross References
Power of district court to bring before it proper parties, whether or not served with State court process, see section 1447 of this title.