Law360, New York ( June 17, 2015, 12:24 PM EDT) -- On June 5, 2015, a three judge panel for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that a district court may not discretionarily abstain from and equitably remand a properly removed state court action when the case relates to an ongoing Chapter 15 bankruptcy proceeding. Firefighters' Retirement System v. Citco Group Ltd., No. 14-30857, (5th Cir. June 5, 2015). The court gave a broad reading to the exception to a court's discretionary abstention powers codified in 28 U.S.C. § 1334(c)(1)[1] that applies "with respect to a case under chapter 15," and concluded that both discretionary abstention and equitable remand are not proper either in a Chapter 15 case itself or in other litigation and proceedings "arising in or related to" a Chapter 15 case. The opinion represents an issue of first impression by a federal appellate court, and if other courts of appeal follow suit, it would allow actions that relate to a pending Chapter 15 case — whether or not the foreign debtor or its foreign representative are party to the litigation — to be removed to and maintained in federal district court without being subject to potential remand to the state court in which they were originally commenced....