Justine Briggs v. Merck Sharp & Dohme

The Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”), Pub.L. No. 109-2, 119 Stat. 4 (2005), authorizes the removal to federal court of “mass actions.” 28 U.S.C. § 1332 (d)(ll)(A), (B). “Mass actions” are civil actions in which “monetary relief claims of 100 or more persons are proposed to be tried jointly on the ground that the plaintiffs’ claims involve common questions of law or fact.” Id. § 1332(d)(ll)(B)(i). The statute excludes from the “mass action” definition actions in which “the claims are joined upon motion of a defendant,” id. § 1332(d)(ll)(B)(ii)(II), or in which “the claims have been consolidated or coordinated solely for pretrial proceedings,” id. § 1332(d)(ll)(B)(ii)(IV).

Plaintiffs-Appellants (“plaintiffs”) in this consolidated appeal filed five separate tort cases in a California state court, each with fewer than one hundred plaintiffs. Plaintiffs alleged that they, or the deceased individuals they represent, suffered from pancreatic cancer due to their use of inere-tin-based therapies for diabetes, including those developed by Defendant-Appellee Merck Sharp & Dohme Corporation (“Merck”), and other defendant drug companies. At the time plaintiffs filed suit, a coordinated…