While it did not receive as much publicity as when health care legislation passed in 2011, the Federal Courts Jurisdiction and Venue Clarification Act of 2011 (the "JVCA") is extremely important to federal court practitioners. The JVCA, which went into effect on Jan. 6, 2012, amended several venue and jurisdictional-related provisions of the United States Code, including provisions regarding removal of cases from state to federal court.

As its title suggests, the JVCA does not necessarily change existing law relating to removal, but often simply clarifies conflicting judicial interpretations of the removal provisions.This article summarizes the removal-related changes and highlights how the changes have been interpreted by various federal courts during the year and a half following passage of the JVCA.

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