Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Dart Cherokee Basin Operating Co., LLC v. Owens, No. 13-719 (docket). The question presented is:
Whether a defendant seeking removal to federal court is required to include evidence supporting federal jurisdiction in the notice of removal, or is alleging the required “short …
Two recent federal court of appeals decisions on the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) address the measurement of the amount in controversy on a declaratory judgment claim, and a “late” removal based on the Supreme Court’s decision in Standard Fire Ins. Co. v. Knowles. Both decisions are favorable to defendants. The Eleventh Circuit’s opinion …
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its second decision construing the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (“CAFA”) in Mississippi ex. rel. Hood v. AU Optronics Corp., No. 12-1036 (slip opinion). In a unanimous opinion authored by Justice Sotomayor (for whom I was a law student intern years ago when she was …
One of the exceptions to federal jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”) is known as the “local controversy exception.” It requires a federal district court to decline to exercise jurisdiction where more than two-thirds of the proposed class members are citizens of the state where suit was filed, the principal injuries occurred in …
The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral argument in its second case involving the Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”), which is Mississippi ex. rel. Hood v. AU Optronics Corp., No. 12-1036 (see oral argument transcript; SCOTUSblog page). The question presented is “Whether a state’s parens patriae action is removable as a ‘mass …
The Seventh Circuit recently held that a declaratory judgment action involving liability insurance coverage for an underlying class action, in which the insured’s rights under the policy had been assigned to a certified class, was removable to federal court under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA). This is a significant decision for insurers faced with…
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…
A recent decision by the Ninth Circuit regarding the timing of removal to federal court has gotten a fair amount of attention in the legal media. It potentially opens the door to later removals of cases more than 30 days after service of the complaint, although I don’t expect that defendants’ practices will change significantly. …
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…
