SUSAN D. WIGENTON, District Judge.
This matter comes before the Court upon: (1) the Motion to Transfer Venue of this case to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware filed by Defendants WCI Communities, Inc., and WCI Towers Northeast, USA, Inc.; and (2) the Motion to Remand this case to New Jersey state court filed by Plaintiff the Watermark Condominium Residences Association, Inc. (hereinafter the "Association"). (Doc. Nos. 4, 13). Both Motions are opposed. (Doc. Nos. 6, 14). The Court has considered the parties' written submissions and decided these Motions without oral argument pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 78. Having done so, for the reasons that follow, the Court will: GRANT Defendant's Motion to Transfer Venue; DENY the Association's Motion to Remand without prejudice; ADMINISTRATIVELY TERMINATE all ancillary pending motions on the docket; and STAY all motion practice in this case until further order of the United States Bankruptcy Court in the District of Delaware.
The Association filed the Complaint that gives rise to this case on June 5, 2012, in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Hudson County, and therein names a multitude of entities and individuals as Defendants (hereinafter collectively the "Defendants").
On July 19, 2012, the Developer Defendants removed this case to this Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1452(a), and assert in the Notice of Removal that this Court has subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1334(b), as this case is "related" to ongoing bankruptcy proceedings in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. (Doc. No. 1 at ¶¶ 1-3.) Shortly after this case was removed, on July 27, 2012, the Developer Defendants filed their present Motion to Transfer Venue of this case to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. (Doc. No. 4). In support of that Motion, the Developer Defendants argue that this case should be transferred because the claims at issue in the Complaint are integrally related to matters that have been and continue to be litigated in a bankruptcy case pending before the Hon. Kevin J. Carey, U.S.B.J., in the District of Delaware.
In response, the Association both opposed the Developer Defendants' Motion to Transfer, and shortly thereafter, filed its present Motion to Remand. (Doc. Nos. 6, 13). In practical effect, the Developer Defendants' Motion to Transfer Venue and the Association's Motion to Remand are cross-motions, and the arguments presented by the parties related to each Motion overlap. Thus, in opposition to the Developer Defendants' Motion to Transfer, and in support of its own Motion to Remand, the Association argues that the claims at issue in the Complaint are not "core" bankruptcy claims pursuant to a nuance in Third Circuit precedent, and therefore, this case should be remanded to New Jersey state court. (
Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), "[f]or the convenience of the parties and witnesses, in the interest of justice, a district court may transfer any civil action to any other district or division where it might have been brought or to any district or division to which all parties have consented." Similarly, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1412, "[a] district court may transfer a case or proceeding under title 11 to a district court for another district, in the interest of justice or for the convenience of the parties." As Judge Irenas explained, when considering whether to transfer a case pursuant to either statute:
Applying the foregoing standard here, this Court concludes in its discretion that transfer to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware is clearly appropriate. The central question presented by the parties in the voluminous and frequently redundant submissions related to the present Motions is as follows: do the claims lodged by the Association in the Complaint fall under the broad aegis of the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings before the Bankruptcy Court? Throughout their submissions, the parties invite this Court to engage that issue by applying an esoteric wrinkle within Third Circuit bankruptcy law to the extraordinarily complex, years-long, and obviously disputed facts and procedural history of the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings.
As noted above, the parties' present Motions present complex issues that this Court concludes are best considered in the first instance by the Bankruptcy Court. As such, this Court will not touch upon the variety of issues related to the Association's Motion to Remand. Instead, the Association's Motion to Remand will be denied without prejudice, so that the Bankrupcy Court can order refiling and rebriefing of that Motion at its discretion. Similarly, and for the same reasons, this Court will administratively terminate all other outstanding dispositive motions in this case. Finally, this Court will stay this case until further order of the Bankruptcy Court.
For the foregoing reasons, this Court will: GRANT Defendant's Motion to Transfer Venue (Doc. No. 4); DENY the Association's Motion to Remand without prejudice (Doc. No. 13); ADMINISTRATIVELY TERMINATE all ancillary pending motions on the docket (Doc. Nos. 47, 48, 58, 62, 65, 89, 113, 114, 118, 121, 122, 123, 125, 132, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 152, 155, 156, 158); and STAY this case until further order of the United States Bankruptcy Court in the District of Delaware.