WILLIAMS v. WALMART STORES EAST LP et al

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
ATHENS DIVISION
AERIAL WILLIAMS,
Plaintiff,
v.
WAL-MART STORES EAST, LP, et al.,
Defendants.
CIVIL ACTION NO.
3:25-cv-00151-TES
ORDER
Plaintiff Aerial Williams filed a Motion to Remand [Doc. 12] her case back to the
State Court of Athens-Clarke County, Georgia. [Doc. 12]. Defendant Wal-Mart Stores
East, LP (“Wal-Mart”) removed this action under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1332(a) and 1441. [Doc. 1].
BACKGROUND
This case is somewhat a procedural mess. So, the Court provides a detailed
procedural background to better understand its reasoning for this order.
Let’s just start at the beginning. This case arises from a personal injury lawsuit
filed by Plaintiff concerning a slip and fall that occurred on August 20, 2023, at a Wal-
Mart store in Athens, Georgia. See [Doc. 1]. Plaintiff originally filed her case in the State
Court of Athens-Clarke County against Defendants Wal-Mart and Kyle Ross. [Doc. 15,
p. 2]. Defendants subsequently removed the action to this Court on September 27, 2024.
See Notice of Removal, Williams v. Walmart Stores East LP, et al., 3:24-cv-00095-TES (M.D.
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Ga. Sept. 27, 2024), Dkt. No. 1. Defendants removed this case because Kyle Ross’
“citizenship should be disregarded for purposes of determining jurisdiction under 28
U.S.C. § 1441 because Plaintiff [had] no possibility of recovery against him and,
therefore, he [had] been fraudulently joined solely for the purpose of defeating federal
diversity jurisdiction . . . .“ [Id. at pp. 3–4]. Ross, who had been originally named as a
defendant in this action due to his position as “Store Manager” at the subject Wal-Mart
store, was not working at the store on the date of the incident and his duties as store
manager did not apply while he was off duty. [Id. at p. 3]. Plaintiff had named Ross, a
Georgia citizen, to ensure there would be no diversity and thus no valid basis to
remove. On the other hand, Defendants sought to remove Ross as a party so that
complete diversity would exist among the remaining parties: Plaintiff, a citizen of
Georgia, and Defendant Wal-Mart, a citizen of both Delaware and Arkansas. [Id. at pp.
2– 4].
On October 15, 2024, Plaintiff filed a Motion to Remand the case back to the State
Court of Athens-Clarke County. See Motion to Remand, Williams v. Walmart Stores East
LP, et al., 3:24-cv-00095-TES (M.D. Ga. Oct. 15, 2024), Dkt. No. 6. As mentioned above,
Plaintiff argued that the Court should remand her case because “as the store manager of
[the] subject Wal-Mart, Kyle Noel Ross [was] personally responsible for the incident
which caused Plaintiff[‘]s injuries and the death of her unborn child” and that because
Mr. Ross is a Georgia resident, there could be no complete diversity of citizenship
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between the parties. [Id.]. The Court rejected that argument, found Ross to have been
fraudulently joined, and denied Plaintiff’s Motion to Remand. See Order Denying
Motion to Remand, Williams v. Walmart Stores East LP, et al., 3:24-cv-00095-TES (M.D. Ga.
Nov. 25, 2024), Dkt. No. 9. The Court’s Order also dismissed Plaintiff’s claims against
Defendant Kyle Ross without prejudice. [Id.]. This left Plaintiff and Defendant Wal-Mart
as the only parties to this action and restored complete diversity between the parties so
that the Court had subject-matter jurisdiction over the case.
However, on March 4, 2025, Plaintiff filed a Motion for Leave to File Amended
Complaint. See Motion to Amend, Williams v. Walmart Stores East LP, et al., 3:24-cv-
00095-TES (M.D. Ga. Mar. 4, 2025), Dkt. No. 20. In the proposed amendment, Plaintiff
sought to add Beth Stewart, a citizen of Georgia, as a defendant in this action, alleging
she acted as assistant store manager at the time of the accident. See [Id.]. On March 31,
2025, this Court granted Plaintiff’s Motion to Amend and remanded the case back to the
State Court of Athens-Clarke County. See Order Granting Motion to Amend, Williams v.
Walmart Stores East LP, et al., 3:24-cv-00095-TES (M.D. Ga. Mar. 31, 2025), Dkt. No. 24. In
doing so, the Court found that it “[could not] conclude that there [was] no possibility
that Plaintiff’s Complaint state[d] a cause of action against [Beth] Stewart.” [Id.]. It
necessarily followed that with Beth Stewart now a party to this action, the Court lost
subject-matter jurisdiction because there would no longer be complete diversity
between the parties. [Id.].
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So, the Court immediately remanded the case back to the State Court of Athens-
Clarke County on March 31, 2025, over four months prior to the expiration of the statute
of limitations, which was to run on August 20, 2025. See Order Granting Motion to
Amend/Correct, Williams v. Walmart Stores East LP, et al., 3:24-cv-00095-TES (M.D. Ga.
Mar. 31, 2025), Dkt. No. 24. Right or wrong, the Court assumed that Plaintiff would
immediately file her proposed Amended Complaint in state court and the case would
proceed as normal.1
After the remand on March 31, 2025, nothing happened. Specifically, Plaintiff
never filed her Amended Complaint. But, after the relevant statute of limitations
expired on August 20, 2025, things really got squirrely.
Because Plaintiff never filed her Amended Complaint that named Beth Stewart as
a party, Plaintiff obviously never served her with process before the expiration of the
statute of limitations. [Doc. 15, p. 2]. Even though she wasn’t named as a party in any
operative pleading, Stewart nonetheless filed a Motion to Dismiss or in the Alternative,
Motion for Summary Judgment in the State Court of Athens-Clarke County on
September 19, 2025, arguing that because she was never served with the Amended
Complaint, she was not a proper party to the lawsuit. [Doc. 16, p. 1]. And, on the same
day, before the State Court of Athens-Clarke County could rule on that motion,
1 In hindsight, it would’ve been better to wait until Plaintiff actually filed her Amended Complaint in this
Court before formally remanding the case to the State Court of Athens-Clarke County.
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Defendants filed their Notice of Removal to transfer the case back to this Court. See
[Doc. 1]. That obviously got Plaintiff’s attention, and she finally filed her Amended
Complaint in the State Court of Athens-Clarke County on September 22, 2025, three
days after the case had been removed to this Court. [Doc. 16, p. 1].
On October 20, 2025, Plaintiff filed her Motion to Remand this case back to the
State Court of Athens-Clarke County on the basis that Beth Stewart “is a Georgia
resident” which “destroys Wal-Mart’s claim of ‘diversity of citizenship’ between the
Plaintiff and Defendants as required under 28 U.S.C. § 1332.” [Doc. 12, p. 1]. Plaintiff
ultimately perfected service of the Amended Complaint—only filed in the state court
after removal—on Beth Stewart on October 29, 2025. [Doc. 16, p. 2].
This Court held a hearing on December 4, 2025, to hear argument on the Motion
to Remand. [Doc. 17]. Despite the Court noting that the Plaintiff had yet to file her
Amended Complaint in this court, she has perplexingly failed to do so to this day.
DISCUSSION
The Court now finds itself as an unwilling participant in a game of judicial ping
pong. The Court finds itself with a motion to dismiss a party to a complaint that was
never filed in this court. Defendant Stewart says she was never served with a complaint
that was filed in the state court after she and Wal-Mart removed the case back to federal
court for the second time. Which begs the question: how can this court now dismiss her
from a nonexistent complaint? In legal terms, it can’t. Plaintiff wants the Court to
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remand the case back to the state court because she says that Stewart is a party to the
case due to the Amended Complaint she filed after the case was removed from state
court and via that Amended Complaint, the Court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction to
hear this case. Well, that can’t be true because the operative pleading remains her
original complaint that, at the moment, only has Stewart and Walmart as proper parties.
For various reasons that should be obvious, the procedural background of this case
makes for a procedural quagmire that is, in the most diplomatic of terms, less than
ideal. There really is no good way to proceed that would be fair and equitable to all
parties and the Court. Given this procedural hot mess that only the most diabolical of
bar examiners could dream up, the Court relies on its considerable discretion and
common sense to do rough justice to find a reasonable solution to finally get this case
moving.
When the Court issued its Order granting Plaintiff’s Motion to Amend her
Complaint, the Court incorrectly assumed that Plaintiff would immediately file her
Amended Complaint with the State Court of Athens-Clarke County. However, for some
unexplained reason, that did not happen. Plaintiff did not file an amended complaint in
the State Court of Athens-Clarke County until September 22, 2025, three days after
Defendants removed this action back to this Court. As such, Plaintiff’s filing of her
Amended Complaint in the State Court of Athens-Clarke County is a legal nullity that
has no bearing in this Court. See 28 U.S.C. § 1446(e). That proposed Amended
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Complaint simply doesn’t count in federal court. The operative complaint in this Court
remains Plaintiff’s original Complaint [See Notice of Removal, Williams v. Walmart Stores
East LP, et al., 3:24-cv-00095-TES (M.D. Ga. Sept. 27, 2024), Dkt. No. 1] filed on
September 27, 2024, sans Defendant Kyle Ross per the Court’s November 25, 2024,
Order [See Motion to Remand, Williams v. Walmart Stores East LP, et al., 3:24-cv-00095-
TES (M.D. Ga. Nov. 25, 2024), Dkt. No. 9]. That leaves Plaintiff and Defendant Wal-Mart
as the only current and proper parties to this action. This restores complete diversity
among the parties and gives this Court subject-matter jurisdiction over this action.
With that being said, the Court clearly intended to allow Plaintiff to amend her
complaint and join Beth Stewart as a party to this action as evidenced by the March 31,
2025 Order. In keeping with the Court’s original intent, the Court finds that the best
course of action is to allow Plaintiff an additional ten days to file the Amended
Complaint that was included in her March 4, 2025 Motion to Amend in this Court. [See
Motion to Amend, Williams v. Walmart Stores East LP, et al., 3:24-cv-00095-TES (M.D. Ga.
Mar. 4, 2025), Dkt. No. 20]. No other version of the Amended Complaint will be
accepted. If Plaintiff fails to file her Amended Complaint within ten days of this Order,
she will forfeit her opportunity to do so and the Court will proceed without the
proposed amendment — that is, without Beth Stewart as a defendant or party to this
action. If Plaintiff does file her Amended Complaint within the next ten days, the Court
will then remand this case back to the State Court of Athens-Clarke County. The Court
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declines to rule on the parties’ arguments concerning the lack of service on Beth Stewart
within the statute of limitations period and will allow the more-than-capable State
Court of Athens-Clarke County to rule on those matters—just as it would have last
March had Plaintiff simply filed the Amended Complaint as she should have. If that
court finds Beth Stewart to be properly joined and timely served, then it will allow
Stewart to remain in the case and it will proceed there. Should that court decide Stewart
isn’t a party, then such a ruling will likely allow Wal-Mart to remove this case back to
federal court for the third time, and it will proceed here. The Court sees no other way to
proceed.
CONCLUSION
As explained above, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff one last opportunity to file her
Amended Complaint within ten days of this Order. Failure to do so will result in the
denial of Plaintiff’s Motion to Remand and the dismissal of Beth Stewart from this
action. Should Plaintiff file the Amended Complaint that the Court already approved,
the Court will remand her case back to the State Court of Athens-Clarke County. See
Order Granting Motion to Amend, Williams v. Walmart Stores East LP, et al., 3:24-cv-
00095-TES (M.D. Ga. Mar. 31, 2025), Dkt. No. 24.
SO ORDERED, this 6th day of February, 2026.
S/ Tilman E. Self, III
TILMAN E. SELF, III, JUDGE
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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