Class Action Fairness Act

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A recent dissent from a denial of rehearing en banc in the Tenth Circuit suggests that a defendant may need to include evidence with its notice of removal under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA).  This could heighten the burden on defendants under CAFA, where they are already required to do extensive work in a…

One of the issues that lawyers debated after the Supreme Court’s decision in Standard Fire Ins. Co. v. Knowles (blog post) was whether the Court had effectively overturned precedent in the Ninth Circuit and Third Circuit on the burden of proof that the party asserting federal jurisdiction bears in establishing the amount in…

One of the issues raised by some legal commentators after the U.S. Supreme Court decided Standard Fire Insurance Company v. Knowles, 133 S. Ct. 1345 (2013) (blog post), was whether the Supreme Court’s opinion invalidating named plaintiffs’ stipulations regarding the amount in controversy would allow cases to be removed again, or removed…

Next Term, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether, or under what circumstances, a lawsuit brought by a state attorney general as a parens patriae action is removable as a “mass action” under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA).  This week the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Mississippi ex rel. Hood v. AU Optronics Corp.…

Under the coupon settlement provision of the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA), do attorneys’ fees always have to be based on the value of the coupons redeemed, or can they be based on a lodestar calculation?  The Ninth Circuit recently addressed this question and held, in a 2-1 decision, that any award of fees “attributable…

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in The Standard Fire Insurance Company v. Knowles, No. 11-1450 (slip opinion), which involves the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA).  In a unanimous opinion authored by Justice Breyer, the Court overturned the district court’s decision remanding a putative class action to state…

Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Standard Fire Insurance Co. v. Knowles, its first case involving the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA).  The case involves whether a named plaintiff can evade federal jurisdiction under CAFA by stipulating that he will not seek more than $5 million on behalf of…

I recently published an article on Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) interlocutory appeals (pdf) in the Defense Research Institute’s In-House Defense Quarterly magazine.  DRI was kind enough to allow me to republish it here for readers of my blog.  My article focuses on the practical challenges in these appeals given their expedited timeframe, and strategies…