The Eleventh Circuit’s decision last week in Cappuccitti v. DirecTV has already caused quite a stir aound the Blogosphere. We’re going to bring you some of the commentary from other blogs over the next few days. Here’s a post from the Mayer Brown site to whet your appetite:
| The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has just issued a decision that, if it is allowed to stand, will preclude federal jurisdiction over virtually all class-action lawsuits filed in, or removed to, federal courts within that circuit. In Cappuccitti v. DirecTV, Inc., the Eleventh Circuit held sua sponte that the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA) does not allow for jurisdiction over class actions unless the amount in controversy for at least one plaintiff (or class member) exceeds $75,000. So long as Cappucitti remains in force, federal courts in the Eleventh Circuit will lack jurisdiction over virtually all consumer class actions and similar types of employment class actions under state law, as individual plaintiffs in those actions typically have modest claims. That result would undercut the core purpose of CAFA—to ensure a federal forum for significant class actions—and could transform state courts in the Eleventh Circuit into magnet jurisdictions for class actions that (under Cappuccitti) cannot be removed. [Read the rest here.] |