S.D. Ill. Holds that Denial of Multistate Class Action Certification Ends Subject Matter Jurisdiction under CAFA

Per BNA's Class Action Litigation Report, Nov. 28, 2008:

Citing the disfavor of multistate class actions, and finding the denial of class status ended federal jurisdiction, a federal judge refused Nov. 12 to certify a class of purchasers of allegedly spontaneously-shattering glass-top patio tables (Ronat v. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., S.D. Ill., No. 3:05-cv-00520, 11/12/08).

The multistate claims, asserted through the use of six subclasses, fell short of the requirement that a class action be manageable, Judge G. Patrick Murphy of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois said.

Murphy drew on a recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Thorogood v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., No. 08-1590, 2008 WL 4709500 (7th Cir. Oct. 28, 2008) (9 CLASS 902, 11/14/08), which rejected class certification for “half a million claims wrested from the control of the courts of 29 jurisdictions.”

Murphy joined those federal courts that found no subject-matter jurisdiction after the denial of class certification, and dismissed the case. Seven other district courts, Murphy observed, have determined they did not retain jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act after denying class certification; three district courts have made the opposite ruling.