United States Ninth Circuit

In 2012, the district court granted plaintiff's request to remand back to state court because the Class Action Fairness Act's (CAFA) $5 million amount-in-controversy requirement was not satisfied, but in May 2014, a California superior court certified a broader class and the amount-in-controversy for the class actually certified exceed $5 million. When defendant again removed to federal court, the district court found removal untimely because the order was based on the same complaint that was the subject of the first removal. Order remanding this case to state court is reversed and remanded with instructions for the district court to exercise federal jurisdiction under CAFA, where: 1) the state court's class certification order created a new occasion for removal, and the second removal was permissible; 2) the second removal was timely because defendant removed within thirty days of the class certification order; and 3) because the jurisdictional requirements of CAFA were met, the district court had subject matter jurisdiction.

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/01/2015
• Published 04/01/2015

Judges

• Hurwitz

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel