United States Supreme Court

In a class action seeking to recover interest due under New York law on plaintiff's insurance claim, the Second Circuit's order affirming the district court's dismissal of the action for lack of jurisdiction based on a New York law precluding class actions to recover a "penalty" such as statutory interest is reversed where Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(b) answered the question in dispute -- whether plaintiff's suit may proceed as a class action -- when it stated that "[a] class action may be maintained" if certain conditions are met. Since N. Y. Civ. Prac. Law Ann. section 901(b) attempted to answer the same question, stating that plaintiff's suit "may not be maintained as a class action" because of the relief it sought, that provision cannot apply in diversity suits unless Rule 23 is ultra vires.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/31/2010
• Published 03/31/2010

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• United States Supreme Court

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