Opinion ID: 173686
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: CAFA and the “Local Controversy” Exception

Text: CAFA provides for the removal to federal court of certain “mass actions.” 28 U.S.C. § 1332(d)(11). Thus, under CAFA a defendant may remove an action if it involves the claims of at least 100 persons that are worth at least $5,000,0000 in the aggregate, so long as there is minimal diversity between the parties. Id.; see also id. § 1332(d)(2) (setting jurisdictional minimums and diversity requirements). CAFA, however, also contains certain exceptions that require the federal district court to remand otherwise removable actions. The only such provision relevant to this appeal is the “local controversy” exception, which states: A district court shall decline to exercise jurisdiction . . . (A)(i) over a class action in which-- (I) greater than two-thirds of the members of all proposed plaintiff classes in the aggregate are citizens of the State in which the action was originally filed; 1 Under 28 U.S.C. § 1453(c)(2), this court must render judgment within sixty days of the filing of the appeal. See also id. § 1453(c)(3)(B) (allowing the court to avail itself of one ten-day extension “for good cause shown and in the interests of justice”). This decision is issued within the statutory deadlines. -6- (II) at least 1 defendant is a defendant– (aa) from whom significant relief is sought by members of the plaintiff class; (bb) whose alleged conduct forms a significant basis for the claims asserted by the proposed plaintiff class; and (cc) who is a citizen of the State in which the action was originally filed; and (III) principal injuries resulting from the alleged conduct or any related conduct of each defendant were incurred in the State in which the action was originally filed; and (ii) during the 3-year period preceding the filing of that class action, no other class action has been filed asserting the same or similar factual allegations against any of the defendants on behalf of the same or other persons. 28 U.S.C. § 1332(d)(4).