Klein v. Vision Lab Telecommunications, Inc., No. 05 Civ. 3615, 2005 WL 3108184 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 18, 2005).
In this case, the parties clashed over the issue of whether diversity jurisdiction permits removal of an action filed in state court under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act to federal court. The plaintiffs, New York residents, sued Vision Lab over more than 150 unsolicited faxes for mortgages, vacation packages and investment tips sent by Vision Lab, a Florida corporation, to 3 telephone numbers of the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs alleged that Vision Lab had committed over 650 violations of the TCPA. Refusing to remand the case, the district court rejected the plaintiffs’ argument that diversity jurisdiction does not trump the TCPA’s grant of exclusive state court jurisdiction over private actions.

The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 was mentioned briefly during the court’s discussion of the interplay between the TCPA and federal jurisdiction as one factor that prompted the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals to keep the TCPA dispute in federal court in Brill v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., No. 05-8024, 2005 WL 2665602 (7th Cir. Oct. 20, 2005) (see CAFA Law Blog summary posted November 2, 2005).