Bell v. The Hershey Co., No. 08-2458.
Plaintiff filed a class action antitrust case against several chocolate manufacturers in Iowa state court, alleging $4.99 million in damages. Defendants removed the case to federal court under the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (“CAFA”). The CAFA has three jurisdictional requirements: (1) minimal diversity, (2) one hundred or more class members, and (3) $ 5 million in damages. Plaintiff filed a motion to remand the case back to state court because the amount in controversy was less than the jurisdictional amount. The federal court agreed and remanded the case.
On appeal, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals explained that in its non-CAFA cases, the court had required the removing party to establish jurisdictional facts by a preponderance of the evidence, a lesser standard than the legal certainty standard urged by plaintiff and used in other jurisdictions. Accordingly, the court held that only a preponderance of the evidence standard was required and remanded the case back to federal court to determine if defendants could meet that standard.
