Home Depot removes Austin lawsuit from Wayne County to federal court

Home Depot removed Austin v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. from Wayne County Circuit Court to federal court, filing a Notice of Removal in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on Feb. 27, 2026. The federal docket assigns case number 2:26-cv-10695 and lists the nature of suit as 360 Torts - Personal Injury - Other Personal Injury with cause code 28:1441 Petition for Removal.

The Notice of Removal is timestamped Feb. 27, 2026 at 2:25 PM on the federal docket and shows a filing receipt number AMIEDC-10620416 and a $405 filing fee. The Notice attaches Exhibit A identified as the Plaintiff’s Complaint and a Document Continuation Appearance listed as Att: 2. The federal docket entry records counsel for Home Depot as Ridley S. Nimmo, II of Plunkett & Cooney in Flint.

Shortly after the removal entry the docket posted a standard magistrate-consent notice at 2:33 PM advising parties that “A United States Magistrate Judge of this Court is available to conduct all proceedings in this civil action in accordance with 28 U.S.C. 636c and FRCP 73. The Notice, Consent, and Reference of a Civil Action to a Magistrate Judge form is available for download.” The case is assigned to District Judge Mark A. Goldsmith and is listed as referred to David R. Grand.

The docket shows two administrative orders entered March 3, 2026 and signed by Judge Goldsmith: an “ORDER REGARDING PROTOCOLS ON FILINGS AND COMMUNICATION WITH THE COURT” at 9:36 AM and an “ORDER REGARDING REMOVAL” at 9:37 AM. The PacerMonitor extract lists those order labels and timestamps but does not include the text of either order in the supplied materials.

The federal docket metadata contains an internal discrepancy on the Wayne County origin: the Notice of Removal line cites Wayne County Circuit Court case number 25-020238-NO while a separate docket metadata cell lists case number 25-020239-NO as the “Case in other court.” The removal filing itself (and the attached Exhibit A complaint) should clarify which state-court file Home Depot removed; the supplied extract does not identify plaintiff counsel or a plaintiff first name beyond the caption “Austin.”

This removal echoes prior high-profile Home Depot litigation over removal jurisdiction. Earlier appeal and certiorari materials from a separate matter show Home Depot previously invoked CAFA and other removal statutes and advanced the argument that an original defendant can remove a class-action claim; that prior docket included the certiorari question framed as “Whether an original defendant to a class-action claim can remove the class action if it otherwise satisfies the jurisdictional requirements of the Class Action Fairness Act when the class action was originally asserted as a counterclaim against a co-defendant,” with counsel characterizing Home Depot as “just a defendant.” Those earlier materials are distinct from Austin but provide legal context for how removal disputes involving Home Depot have been litigated.

For now the federal docket is active under 2:26-cv-10695 with Judge Goldsmith and referral to Magistrate Judge David R. Grand; the Notice of Removal, its Exhibit A complaint, and the March 3 orders on the federal docket will determine next steps and whether any motion to remand is filed.