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Fourth Circuit addresses whether a party joined as a defendant to a counterclaim may remove the case to federal court solely because the counterclaim satisfies the jurisdictional requirements of the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005

"This case presents an issue of first impression -- whether a party joined as a defendant to a counterclaim may remove the case to federal court solely because the counterclaim satisfies the jurisdictional requirements of the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005": So begins the majority opinion that a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued yesterday.

Chief Judge Karen J. Williams wrote the majority opinion, in which Circuit Judge Robert B. King joined. The majority held that removal to federal court could not be accomplished under those circumstances. Circuit Judge Paul V. Niemeyer dissented, explaining that "I conclude that CAFA does indeed authorize AT&T to remove this interstate class action, even though AT&T was sued as a counterclaim defendant, not as an original defendant."

Full post as published by How Appealing on December 17, 2008 (boomark / email).