A highlight from this issue includes:
- Class Action Fairness Act. The Fourth Circuit held: (1) for purposes of CAFA’s local-controversy exception, the term “citizen” carries the same meaning as it does for diversity jurisdiction under § 1332(a), (2) residency suffices to create a rebuttable presumption of citizenship, and (3) CAFA’s requirement that a local defendant’s conduct form “a significant basis” of the plaintiffs’ claims means more than one defendant can be a “significant basis.”
