The Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”) includes a “local controversy” exception, requiring federal district courts to decline jurisdiction over classes where, amongst other things, more than “two-thirds of the members of all proposed plaintiff classes in the aggregate are citizens of the State in which the action was originally filed.” 28 U.S.C. § 1332(d)(4)(A)(i)(I). In Simring v. Greensky, LLC, — F.4th —, 2022 WL 894206 (11th Cir. Mar. 28, 2022), the Eleventh Circuit addressed, where plaintiffs have not submitted actual evidence on the residency of putative class members, whether courts are confined to the class definition in a class action complaint to determine if this exception’s two-thirds citizen requirement is met, or if courts can look at other statements in the complaint. The Eleventh Circuit answered that the review is limited to the class definition itself in the absence of independent evidence of class members’ citizenship.
Continue Reading Eleventh Circuit Narrowly Construes CAFA’s “Local Controversy” Exception, Ruling that State Residency of Putative Class Members Must Either be Limited by Class Definition or Proven With Evidence