Richard Reyes v. Dollar Tree Stores, Inc.

Defendant Dollar Tree Stores, Inc. removed this case to federal court in 2012, invoking jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1332 (d), 1453,1711-1715. Plaintiff Richard Reyes moved to remand, representing that the amended complaint defined the proposed class narrowly and that the CAFA $5,000,000 amount-in-controversy requirement was therefore unsatisfied. The district court agreed and remanded.

In May 2014, a California superior court certified a broader class than the one described by Reyes during the first removal. It is uncontested that the amount in controversy for the class actually certified exceeds $5,000,000. Dollar Tree again removed after the superior court entered the class certification order, but the district court found removal untimely because the order was based on the same complaint that was the subject of the first removal.

The issue before us is whether the class certification order created a new occasion for removal. We conclude that it did and remand to the district court to exercise jurisdiction under CAFA.

I.

Reyes filed this action in California state court in July 2012, alleging that Dollar Tree…