A. Broadening Federal Diversity Jurisdiction over Class Actions S.353 proposes to amend federal diversity jurisdiction for class actions by changing the amount in controversy and diversity of citizenship requirements of 28 USC 1332. Diversity of Jurisdiction Requirement for Class Actions. S.353 maintains the amount in controversy requirement of 28 USC 1332, unlike a prior proposal in 1998, H.R. 3789, which sought to eliminate the amount in controversy requirement for class actions. An unanswered question about S.353 is whether aggregation of claims occurs only of class representative claims or whether the claims of all class members can be aggregated to determine if the amount in controversy requirement is satisfied. Under the current rule, diversity jurisdiction requires complete diversity of citizenship between the plaintiffs and defendants.
Complete diversity means that no plaintiff can be from the same state as any defendant.
Also under the current rule, only the citizenship of the named parties is considered in a class action suit in determining whether complete diversity exists. Under S.353, federal diversity jurisdiction over class actions would exist when at least one plaintiff is a citizen of a different state from at least one defendant. S. 353 allows an overlap of citizenship between some plaintiffs and defendants without defeating jurisdiction, whereas no such overlap can exist under the current complete diversity requirement. The proposed minimum diversity requirement would eliminate for all practical purposes the diversity of citizenship requirement for class actions because with a class of hundreds or thousands, it should be relatively easy to find a plaintiff who is a citizen of a state different from any defendant. B. Expansion of Removal Jurisdiction over Class Actions S.353 creates a new section in Title 28 of the U.S. Code for removal of class actions.