govinfo:USCOURTS-pawd-2_25-cv-01885-0

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 
     
JOSHUA MCKEE,    ) 
      )       
  Plaintiff,   ) 
      ) 
 v.     ) 2:25cv1885 
      ) Electronic Filing 
MPW INDUSTRIAL SERVICES, INC. ) 
and CRANE COMPANY,   ) 
      ) 
  Defendants.   ) 
 
 
MEMORANDUM and ORDER 
 
 Joshua McKee ("plaintiff") 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, plaintiff's 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, plaintiff 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 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.   
Case 2:25-cv-01885-DSC     Document 9     Filed 04/27/26     Page 1 of 2
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 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] plaintiff's 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 
 Edward D. Fisher, Esquire 
 Christopher G. Mavros, Esquire  
 
 (Via CM/ECF Electronic Mail) 
 
 
 
   
 
       
Case 2:25-cv-01885-DSC     Document 9     Filed 04/27/26     Page 2 of 2

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