Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) Articles

The latest CAFA developments and trends, including news, key cases, and strategies.

Court Denies Remand Holding CAFA’s Amount In Controversy Requirement Was Met

by Carlton Fields

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois denied plaintiff’s renewed motion to remand, holding that defendants had demonstrated that it was plausible that CAFA’s amount in controversy requirement had been exceeded and plaintiff had failed to make an irrevocable commitment to obtain less than $5,000,000 in damages. The district court initially granted plaintiff’s motion to remand but, as we previously reported, the Seventh Circuit ... Keep Reading »

Class Representative’s Motion To Remand For Insufficient Amount In Controversy Doesn’t Add Up

by Jacob R. Hathorn

A Kentucky federal court recently ruled that a class plaintiff may not defeat removal by understating the aggregate amount in controversy alleged in her complaint. The defendants had assisted plaintiff in connection with her claim for Social Security Disability benefits after she was referred to them by her long-term disability insurance carrier. According to plaintiff, the nature of the fee arrangement between the defendants and the referring insurance carriers ... Keep Reading »

Parens Patriae Action By State Attorney General Is Not Removable Under CAFA’s Class Action Provision

by Clifton R. Gruhn

A federal district court in Hawaii held that a parens patriae action brought on behalf of the State of Hawaii by its Attorney General was not removable under the Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”) because it was not a class action, and, even if it were, the presence of the State as a party precluded a finding that CAFA’s minimal diversity requirement had been met. In Hawaii v. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Hawaii’s Attorney General claimed that pharmaceutical companies ... Keep Reading »

The Eleventh Circuit Reverses CAFA-Based Remand Order

by David L. Luck

On June 5, 2014, the Eleventh Circuit decided in favor of Fifth Third Bank on its appeal of a district court order remanding a putative class action to Florida state court. The basis for the remand order had been the district court’s determination that certain of the claims asserted in the removed complaint were legally insufficient and thus the damages claimed thereunder did not satisfy the $5,000,000 amount-in-controversy requirement imposed under the Class Action ... Keep Reading »

Courts Find Removal Is Not Permitted Under CAFA Where Plaintiff Did Not Plead A Class Action Under Rule 23 Or Comparable State Rule

by Gary M. Pappas

District Courts continue to shape the boundaries of CAFA jurisdiction in suits that are not pleaded as class actions. For example, the District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana held that defendants could not rely on the “real party in interest” inquiry articulated in the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Mississippi ex rel. Hood v. AU Optronics Corp., 134 S.Ct. 736 (2014) to create a class action where the State did not plead one. The case arose from ... Keep Reading »

A Class Action By Any Other Name Is Still A Class Action And Subject To CAFA

by Amanda Romfh Jesteadt and Jaret J. Fuente

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri denied a plaintiff’s motion to remand a collection action against insurers brought on behalf of a certified class that had obtained a judgment in a separate action against a mobile home park operator. After obtaining the judgment, the class representative filed a separate “equitable garnishment action” against the park operator’s insurers under a Missouri statute that provides for collection of insurance by a ... Keep Reading »

Supreme Court Accepts Certiorari In CAFA Removal Case

by Jaret J. Fuente and D. Matthew Allen

On April 7, 2014, the Supreme Court accepted certiorari review in Dart Cherokee Basin Operating Company LLC v. Owens, No. 13-719, to resolve a circuit split regarding whether the Class Action Fairness Act requires a removing defendant to submit evidence in support of removal at the time of the notice of removal or whether evidence can be submitted later in response to a motion to remand. The United States District Court for the District of Kansas remanded a putative ... Keep Reading »

Seventh Circuit Reverses Remand Order Based On Supreme Court’s Knowles Decision

by Dean A. Morande and Gary M. Pappas

In what may become a more common trend in CAFA litigation based on the Supreme Court’s decision in Standard Fire Ins. Co. v. Knowles, ––– U.S. –––, 133 S.Ct. 1345 (2013), the Seventh Circuit reversed the district court’s order remanding the case back to state court. The district court had determined that the defendant failed to show that the amount in controversy in the litigation exceeded $5 million, as required by the Class Action Fairness Act. The district court’s ... Keep Reading »

Must Claims Severed From A CAFA Class Action Be Remanded To State Court? The Fifth Circuit Says No.

by Paul G. Williams

Following Hurricane Katrina, the State of Louisiana filed a class action to recover under homeowners’ insurance policies that the state had received by assignment through a disaster relief program. The insurers successfully removed to federal court based on CAFA jurisdiction, and challenged the assignability of the homeowners’ contractual rights. Finding that Louisiana law required a policy by policy examination of each anti-assignment clause, the district court ... Keep Reading »

Knowles Gives Employer Second Chance To Seek And Win Removal