MARCEL LIVAUDAIS, JR., United States District Judge.
This is a civil action for damages brought by the plaintiff John Russell, against the manufacturers of Rezulin, a drug designed for the treatment of Type II diabetes, and against his treating physician, Dr. Bruce Samuels. In the petition which he filed in the 34th Judicial District Court for the Parish of St. Bernard, State of Louisiana, plaintiff alleges claims that arise solely under state law. There is not complete diversity of citizenship because plaintiff and his treating physician, Dr. Bruce Samuels, are citizens of the state of Louisiana.
The defendant manufacturers of Rezulin, Warner-Lambert Company, Parke-Davis, and Pfizer, Inc., removed this action to this federal court on the grounds that there is complete diversity of citizenship, inasmuch as the plaintiff's treating physician has been fraudulently joined and thus his citizenship may be ignored for purposes of determining subject matter jurisdiction.
Plaintiff has filed a motion to remand this action to state court and a motion to stay the transfer of this action pursuant to the order of the MDL. The defendant manufacturers have filed a motion to stay the proceedings.
For the reasons stated by Chief Judge McNamara in his order entered May 2, 2001 (Rec. Doc. No. 12), in Ritchie v. Warner-Lambert Company, Civil Action 01-1001, Section "D", and incorporated herein and attached hereto as Court Exhibit 1, this Court finds that the treating physician was not fraudulently joined for the purposes of defeating diversity jurisdiction and thus this action should be remanded to the state court from which it was removed.
Accordingly, for the above and foregoing reasons,
IT IS ORDERED that plaintiff's motion to remand be and is hereby GRANTED and this action is hereby REMANDED to the 34th Judicial District Court for the Parish of St. Bernard, State of Louisiana.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that defendants' motion to stay be and is hereby DENIED.