Supreme Court Docket Report - April 7, 2014

Keywords: CAFA, jurisdictional allegations, removal notice, civil action

Yesterday, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in one case of interest to the business community:

Federal Jurisdiction—Class Action Fairness Act—Sufficiency of Jurisdictional Allegations in Removal Notice

To remove a civil action from state court to federal court, the defendant must "file ... a notice of removal ... containing a short and plain statement of the grounds for removal." 28 U.S.C. § 1446(a). Today, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Dart Cherokee Basin Operating Co. v. Owens, No. 13-719, to decide whether a notice of removal must also include evidence supporting jurisdiction if the facts establishing jurisdiction do not appear on the face of the state-court complaint. The Court's resolution of this issue will be important to all businesses seeking to remove state-court lawsuits—and especially state-court class actions—to the federal courts.

Owens, the plaintiff in Dart Cherokee, filed a class action in Kansas state court seeking to recover oil and gas royalties, but did not specify the amount sought. The defendants responded by filing a notice of removal that invoked the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005. The...