Cite as: 519 U. S. 61 (1996)
Opinion of the Court
their disregard of Congress' instructions, and their ability to lead district judges into error.
Concretely, in this very case, Lewis emphasizes, adherence to the rules Congress prescribed for removal would have kept the case in state court. Only by removing prematurely was Caterpillar able to get to federal court inside the one-year limitation set in § 1446(b).12 Had Caterpillar waited until the case was ripe for removal, i. e., until Whayne Supply was dismissed as a defendant, the one-year limitation would have barred the way,13 and plaintiff's choice of forum would have been preserved.14
These arguments are hardly meritless, but they run up against an overriding consideration. Once a diversity case has been tried in federal court, with rules of decision supplied by state law under the regime of Erie R. Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U. S. 64 (1938), considerations of finality, efficiency, and economy become overwhelming.
Our decision in Newman-Green, Inc. v. Alfonzo-Larrain, 490 U. S. 826 (1989), is instructive in this regard. Newman-Green did not involve removal, but it did involve the federal
12 Congress amended § 1446(b) in 1988 to include the one-year limitation in order to "reduc[e] the opportunity for removal after substantial progress has been made in state court." H. R. Rep. No. 100-889, p. 72 (1988).
13 On appeal, Lewis raised only the absence of diversity. He did not refer to the one-year limitation prior to his brief on the merits in this Court. See Tr. of Oral Arg. 17, 30-31. Under this Court's Rule 15.2, a nonjurisdictional argument not raised in a respondent's brief in opposition to a petition for a writ of certiorari "may be deemed waived." Under the facts of this case, however, addressing the implications of § 1446(b)'s one-year limitation is " 'predicate to an intelligent resolution' of the question presented." Ohio v. Robinette, ante, at 38 (quoting Vance v. Terrazas, 444 U. S. 252, 258-259, n. 5 (1980)). We therefore regard the issue as one "fairly included" within the question presented. This Court's Rule 14.1. The parties addressed the issue in their briefs and at oral argument, and we exercise our discretion to decide it.
14 Lewis preferred state court to federal court based on differences he perceived in, inter alia, the state and federal jury systems and rules of evidence. See Brief for Respondent 22-23.
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