govinfo:USCOURTS-pawd-2_25-cv-01888-0

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 
     
ELI JOSEPH RUFFING and CHELSI ) 
ANN RUFFING his wife,   )  
      )       
  Plaintiffs,   ) 
      ) 
 v.     ) 2:25cv1888 
      ) Electronic Filing 
CRANE COMPANY and MPW  ) 
INDUSTRIAL SERVICES, INC.,  ) 
      ) 
  Defendants.   ) 
 
 
MEMORANUM and ORDER  
 
 Eli and Chelsi Ruffing ("plaintiffs") commenced this action in the Allegheny County 
Court of Common Pleas on November 5, 2025, by filing a praecipe for writ of summons.  Crane 
Company and MPW Industrial Services, Inc., ("defendants") removed the action to this court on 
December 5, 2025.  Presently before this court is plaintiffs' motion to remand.  Because an 
adequate basis for removal has not been presented, plaintiffs' motion will be granted.   
 It is black letter law that removal is permitted after a plaintiff has filed "an initial 
pleading setting forth the claim for relief upon which such action or proceeding is based."  28 
U.S.C. § 1446(b).   Here, plaintiffs filed a praecipe for writ of summons, not a complaint.  For 
the purposes of removal, the Third Circuit has clarified that "[a] summons may not serve as an 
initial pleading" because, "the time to remove is triggered by 'receipt of the complaint, through 
service or otherwise, after and apart from service of the summons.'"  Sikirica v. Nationwide Ins. 
Co., 416 F.3d 214, 222 (3d Cir. 2004) (emphasis in original) (quoting Murphy Bros., Inc. v. 
Michetti Pipe Stringing, Inc., 526 U.S. 344, 348 (1999)).  Not mincing words, the Third Circuit 
concluded: "[w]e therefore hold that Murphy Bros. implicitly overruled Foster, and a writ of 
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summons can no longer be the 'initial pleading' that triggers . . . removal under the first 
paragraph of 28 U.S.C. § 1446(b)."  Id. at 223.   
 It follows that an adequate basis for removal has not been presented.  Consequently, the 
matter will be remanded to the Allegheny County Court of Commons Pleas.  An appropriate 
order follows.   
ORDER 
 AND NOW, this 27th day of April, 2026, IT IS ORDERED that [4] plaintiffs' motion to 
remand be, and the same hereby is, granted.  The Clerk of Court is directed to remand this case 
to the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas forthwith.   
 
       s/David Stewart Cercone 
       David Stewart Cercone 
       Senior United States District Judge 
 
 
cc: Albert J. Evans, Esquire 
 Christopher G. Mavros, Esquire 
 Theodore M. Schaer, Esquire 
 
 (Via CM/ECF Electronic Mail) 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
       
Case 2:25-cv-01888-DSC     Document 14     Filed 04/27/26     Page 2 of 2

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