New Class Representative Did Not ‘Commence' New Action Under CAFA

BNA's Class Action Litigation Report is reporting on an Eighth Circuit case, Plubell v. Merck & Co., 8th Cir., No. 05-4217, which held that substituting a new class representative for one who had not actually bought or used the drug at issue does not "commence" a new class action for purposes of the Class Action Fairness Act. Per BNA, "The claims in the original and amended petitions are identical, the substitute class representative was a member of the putative class, and there was no evidence of bad faith use of a "placeholder" plaintiff, Judge Duane Benton said. In those circumstances, the defendant was not prejudiced, and both Missouri law and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(c) would allow the amended pleading to relate back to the original."

The full text of BNA's article on the case can be viewed by clicking here. A PDF of the text of the opinion is available by clicking here.