subject matter jurisdiction

Facebook and Subject Matter Jurisdiction: With Friends Like These...

September 02, 2010 13:30

Earlier this summer, Paul Ceglia filed a lawsuit in a Buffalo, New York state court claiming he’s entitled to an 84% stake in Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg, the defendant and Facebook CEO, removed the case to U.S. District Court for the...

The Common Sense Approach to Determining Amount-In-Controversy

August 31, 2010 13:54

Decided one day apart, both Roe v. Michelin North America, Inc., No. 09-15141 (11th Cir. Aug. 5, 2010) and Berniard v. Dow Chemical Co., No. 10-30497 (5th Cir. Aug. 6, 2010), address whether, in the context of removal to federal court, defendants who relied solely on the nature of the allegations...

Skinner on International Law Violations and "Arising Under" Jurisdiction

August 25, 2010 12:00

Professor Gwynne Skinner (Willamette University College of Law) has posted "When Customary International Law Violations 'Arise Under the Laws of the United States'" on SSRN. It will be published in the Brooklyn Journal of International Law. The abstract states: For...

Adversaries Find Common Ground in Seeking En Banc Rehearing of Eleventh Circuit's Recent CAFA Decision

August 19, 2010 15:57

As previously reported here, in July the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a decision taking a novel approach to jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005.  In Cappuccitti v. DirecTV, Inc., the Court found that in addition to the requirements expressly set out in 28...

Cappuccitti -- Another Blow to CAFA Jurisdiction in the Eleventh Circuit

July 27, 2010 21:05

Last week a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit issued Cappuccitti v. DirecTV, Inc., No. 09-14107 (11th Cir. July 19, 2010) (Tjoflat, J.), addressing the jurisdictional requirements for a putative class action filed in federal court or an “original CAFA action.”  It held that...