Litigation of Wrongful Termination Cases in State v Federal Court in California
An employer who is incorporated in a state other than California can remove a case filed against it in State court by their aggrieved employee to Federal Court, and in fact employer often do that. The main advantage that an employer has in federal court is the unanimous jury decision required for the plaintiff to prevail in a case that goes all the way to jury trial, while in State court, it is enough for the plaintiff to have 9 votes out of 12 in order to win. Considering the fact that very few cases go to trial, this is not a huge disadvantage for the plaintiff.
On the other hand, there are at least three several significant advantages to plaintiffs in federal court: first, depositions are generally limited to 7 hours per witness, so the employer's attorney cannot drag plaintiff's deposition for 2 or 3 or more days like they sometimes do when in state court; secondly, there is no deadline to file a motion to compel to disclose documents that the other party refuses to produce, while in state court there a 45-day deadline for a party to move to compel documents that the other side refuses to produce. This reduces the pressure on the parties to file motions to get the documents from each other and encourages them to try to resolve their written discovery disputes informally. Thirdly, shortly after the case is filed or removed to Federal Court, the parties get a "scheduling order" where they get all the information about the dates for upcoming hearings all the way up to trial, which allows you to plan better on how and when to prepare to disclose evidence, appear at hearings and prepare for trial.
Of course, the other consideration is that removing the case filed in state court to federal court is yet another opportunity for the employer's attorneys to bill a few hours of work to their client - the kind of work that isn't always neccessary or even in their clients' best interest, but it surely looks impressive since it involves quite a bit of paperwork.
On the other hand, there are at least three several significant advantages to plaintiffs in federal court: first, depositions are generally limited to 7 hours per witness, so the employer's attorney cannot drag plaintiff's deposition for 2 or 3 or more days like they sometimes do when in state court; secondly, there is no deadline to file a motion to compel to disclose documents that the other party refuses to produce, while in state court there a 45-day deadline for a party to move to compel documents that the other side refuses to produce. This reduces the pressure on the parties to file motions to get the documents from each other and encourages them to try to resolve their written discovery disputes informally. Thirdly, shortly after the case is filed or removed to Federal Court, the parties get a "scheduling order" where they get all the information about the dates for upcoming hearings all the way up to trial, which allows you to plan better on how and when to prepare to disclose evidence, appear at hearings and prepare for trial.
Of course, the other consideration is that removing the case filed in state court to federal court is yet another opportunity for the employer's attorneys to bill a few hours of work to their client - the kind of work that isn't always neccessary or even in their clients' best interest, but it surely looks impressive since it involves quite a bit of paperwork.