The Eleventh Circuit reinstated a federal RICO case but approved the denial of a motion to remand it to state court under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) in Blevins v. Aksut, No. 16-11585, 2017 WL 782288 (11th Cir. Mar. 1, 2017). The court’s opinion confirms that CAFA’s local-controversy provision, 28 U.S.C. § 1332(d)(4), does not strip…
Category: Jurisdiction
Patronage Capital Class Action Removable; Dismissal Affirmed
An electric cooperative organized under state law is nonetheless entitled to remove a putative class action to federal court under the “federal officer” removal statute, according to the Eleventh Circuit in Caver v. Central Alabama Electric Cooperative, 845 F.3d 1135 (11th Cir. 2017), which also affirmed dismissal of a complaint seeking immediate return of patronage capital. Specifically,…
Direct Appeal from Bankruptcy Proceeding Transferred for Lack of Jurisdiction
Federal courts have struggled with the implications of Stern v. Marshall, 564 U.S. 462 (2011), and Wellness International Network, Ltd. v. Sharif, 135 S. Ct. 1932 (2015)—in which the Supreme Court held that the Constitution requires the parties’ consent before bankruptcy courts can finally adjudicate claims that neither “stem[] from the bankruptcy itself [n]or would necessarily…
Secondhand Knowledge Held Insufficient to Qualify False Claims Act Relator as “Original Source”
In United States ex rel. Saldivar v. Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc., 2016 WL 6595937 (11th Cir. Nov. 8, 2016), the Eleventh Circuit joined the Third, Seventh, Eighth, and Tenth Circuits holding that “secondhand” knowledge is insufficient to make someone an “original source” under the False Claims Act (FCA). The plaintiff alleged in a qui…
Native American Tribes Cannot Be Sued Under the ADEA
Native American tribes enjoy sovereign immunity from suit under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 621-634. This was the holding of the Eleventh Circuit’s published opinion in Williams v. Poarch Band of Creek Indians, 2016 WL 6081345 (11th Cir. Oct. 18, 2016). This case clarifies principles of statutory interpretation and reaffirms the…
Appeal Dismissed Under Spokeo
Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540 (2016), established that an alleged violation of a statutory right, standing alone, does not necessarily confer Article III standing to bring a claim in federal court. Reaction to the decision continues to evolve. In the latest case from the Eleventh Circuit, the court dismissed an appeal for…
Collateral Challenge to Constitutionality of SEC Administrative Procedure to be Dismissed for Lack of Jurisdiction
On June 17, the Eleventh Circuit decided Hill v. SEC, 825 F.3d 1236 (11th Cir. 2016), vacating the district court’s grant of two motions for preliminary injunctions prohibiting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) administrative enforcement proceedings. The Eleventh Circuit consolidated two cases where the plaintiffs had each challenged the SEC administrative procedure on grounds, among others,…