Evans v. Walter Industries, Inc.

449 F.3d 1159 (2006)

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Evans v. Walter Industries, Inc.

United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
449 F.3d 1159 (2006)

Facts

Evans and other individuals (plaintiffs) filed a class action in Alabama state court, alleging that multiple manufacturers (manufacturers) (defendants) had released waste materials in the Anniston, Alabama, area over a period of 85 years, causing personal injuries and property damage. The case was removed to federal court pursuant to the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA), a statute enacted in 2005 giving federal courts jurisdiction over class actions in which the amount in controversy is greater than $5 million and at least one plaintiff and one defendant are residents of different states. Plaintiffs moved to remand the case to state court pursuant to CAFA’s local-controversy exception on the theory that at least two-thirds of the plaintiff class were citizens of Alabama and that U.S. Pipe, an Alabama corporation, was a significant defendant. U.S. Pipe had operated two facilities near Anniston, one of which had closed in 1951 and the other of which was located outside the area where most class members lived. Plaintiffs filed the affidavit of an attorney who stated that she had reviewed more than 10,000 potential plaintiffs and had determined that 5,000 qualified as class members. Of those class members, 93.8 percent were Alabama residents. Relying on this affidavit, plaintiffs argued that if 93.8 percent of known class members were Alabama residents, then at least two-thirds of all class member should be Alabama residents. The district court found that the local-controversy exception applied and remanded the case to state court. The manufacturers appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Anderson, J.)

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