News Flash! News Flash!!! Hot off the presses!!! It’s finally happened. Abrego, Lowedermilk, and all of the other cases interpreting the burden of proof in CAFA removals have been reversed!! The plaintiffs now bear the burden of establishing the nonexistence of minimal-diversity jurisdiction under CAFA. We told you so all along. The plaintiffs!! Finally, someone bothered to read and understand (and more importantly, correctly apply) Section 2 of Congress’ "Findings and Purposes" for CAFA, and realized (as we’ve been preaching since Day One) that the Congressional intent was to extend federal jurisdiction over interstate class actions and the burden should fall to the party challenging jurisdiction, not the proponent of federal jurisdiction. After this decision, a defendant can simply remove a putative class action with minimal diversity, and the plaintiff has the burden of proving that minimal diversity is not satisfied.
This decision is so hot, we wanted to bring it to you TODAY before anyone else had a chance to report it to you. Since it is so fresh TODAY, we have not had a chance to digest it completely for you. Consequently, until we can draft a formal post on TODAY’s decision, please click here for more information. Or, if you don’t believe us, check it out yourself on Topeka.com. TODAY. AND TODAY ONLY!!!