Our very own Anthony Rollo, the father of the CAFA Law Blog, was interviewed by the Westlaw Journal on Class Actions regarding the recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Smith v. Bayer. (Editors’ Note: See the CAFA Law Blog analysis of Smith posted on June 28, 2011).
in Baycol MDL Judge Wrong to Toss State Court, Supreme Court Says, Westlaw Journal Class Action, Volume 18, Issue 6, July, 2011, Anthony Rollo stated that he does not believe, as some have suggested, that the ruling will open the floodgates to more class actions. He went on to explan that the most significant part of the ruling is its narrowness. While the ruling focuses on the relitigation exception to the Anti-Injunction Act, there are other situations in which a federal court can enjoin a state court proceeding that it sees as a threat to federal court jurisdiction. As an example, a state court’s notice of settlement that would conflict with a notice in the federal court falls outside the scope of relitigation and is unaffected by the ruling.