Cuevas

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

JOSE CUEVAS, Case No. 23-cv-03166-VC

Plaintiff,

ORDER DENYING MOTION TO

v. REMAND

LITTLE CAESAR ENTERPRISES, INC., Re: Dkt. No. 12 Defendant.

This ruling assumes the reader is familiar with the facts, the applicable legal standard, and the arguments made by the parties. The motion to remand is denied because the amount in controversy must be calculated based on the full class definition, regardless of the existence of any arbitration agreements. Cuevas does not appear to dispute that the class claims well exceed the five-million- dollar CAFA threshold based solely on the allegations in the complaint.1 Instead, Cuevas argues that Little Caesar’s invocation of employee arbitration agreements as an affirmative defense takes any employees who signed such agreements outside of the class definition for jurisdictional

1 The motion to remand does include some general, vague language challenging the evidentiary basis of the removal notice. Dkt. No. 12-1, at 4–6. When the defendant’s assertion of the amount in controversy is challenged, the Court must assess whether the…