Dorothy Peralta v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc.

MEMORANDUM

Plaintiffs-appellants Dorothy Peralta, Steven S. Begverdi, and James Moscoso appeal under the Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”), 28 U.S.C. § 1453 (c)(1), from the denial of their motion to remand to California state court a putative class action case against Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., fka America’s Wholesale Lender, and Countrywide Bank, FSB (“Countrywide Bank”) (collectively “Countrywide”). We vacate the order granting plaintiffs-appellants’ application to appeal, and dismiss the appeal as improvidently granted.

Countrywide removed the putative class action case from California state court under CAFA, 28 U.S.C. § 1332 (d), which vests district courts with jurisdiction over class actions if the amount in controversy exceeds $5,000,000.00, and any member of the class is a citizen of a state different from any defendant. The district court denied the remand motion on the ground that minimal diversity was established because plaintiffs-appellants are California citizens, and Countrywide Bank is a Colorado citizen, the state of its main office. 28 U.S.C. § 1348 (national banks are citizens of the states in which they are “located”). The only issue…