Unusual SCOTUS lineup supports class-action defendant seeking to transfer case to federal court
An unusual five-justice majority of the U.S. Supreme Court has sided with a defendant who sought to remove a class action from state to federal court.
The court ruled that a defendant seeking to remove a class action does not need to introduce evidence with the notice of removal showing at least $5 million is at stake, the minimum amount needed to support federal jurisdiction when the parties are from different states and the class has more than 100 members. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the majority opinion (PDF), joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Stephen G. Breyer, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Sonia Sotomayor.
The Class Action Fairness Act states that the notice should contain “a short and plain statement of the grounds for removal.” Under the law, Ginsburg said, the minimal amount need only be plausibly alleged in the removal notice. Evidence supporting the assertion is only required when the plaintiff contests or the judge questions the amount, she said.
The case alleged underpayment of royalties due under oil and gas leases.
Justice Antonin Scalia dissented in an opinion joined by Justices Anthony M. Kennedy and Elena Kagan in full, and Justice Clarence Thomas in part. Scalia said the issue was not whether evidence must be introduced supporting the removal notice. The actual issue, Scalia said, is whether the federal appeals court abused its discretion in denying the defendant permission to appeal the district court’s ruling against him on the evidence issue.
Scalia said he would have dismissed the case as improvidently granted or, failing that, would vote to affirm the appeals court, which did not give a reason when it denied the appeal.
The case is Dart Cherokee Basin Operating Co. v. Owens.
