Aaron Buckley Writes Bender’s California Labor & Employment Bulletin Article About Recent Decision by Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Class Action Fairness Act
Aaron Buckley, national vice chair of the Quarles & Brady Labor & Employment Practice Group, wrote an article for Bender’s California Labor & Employment Bulletin about a March 2025 decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which explained how defendants can meet the $5 million amount-in-controversy requirement to move a class action to federal court under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA).
An excerpt:
When a CAFA defendant removes a class action to federal court, the notice of removal “need include only a plausible allegation that the amount in controversy exceeds the jurisdictional threshold.” 3 “Evidence establishing the amount is required…only when the plaintiff contests, or the court questions, the defendant’s allegation.”4 If the allegation is disputed, the removing party bears the burden of demonstrating by a preponderance of the evidence that the amount in controversy exceeds $5 million. 5
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This decision provides a valuable roadmap for wage and hour class action defendants who wish to consider removal under CAFA. A plaintiff who wishes to avoid CAFA removal can make removal more difficult by including in the complaint allegations that are specific enough to limit the range of assumptions a defendant can reasonably adopt.