Lao

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO REMAND

This case requires the Court to examine the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (“CAFA”), a statute in which some major terms are left undefined, certain of the provisions of which have been aptly characterized as “bewildering” or “clumsily crafted,” and whose legislative history is, in part, of questionable interpretive value. In short, it is a statute that is a headache to construe.

On April 7, 2006, plaintiffs filed a class action suit in San Bernardino County Superior Court. The proposed class represents those who were or still are employed as commissioned salespersons at Wickes Furniture Company, Inc.’s (“Wickes”) showrooms in California from March 24, 2002, until the time a class is certified, a class potentially representing “hundreds of people.” (First Am. Compl. ¶¶ 1, 26). Plaintiffs allege that they regularly performed non-sales (and, hence uncompensated) work, such as attending meetings (some sponsored by the company and some by furniture vendors whose wares Wickes sold), cleaning the stores, and researching the prices charged by Wickes’ competitors. They also allege that the commissions they earned from a sale were subject to…