ANALYSIS: SCOTUS Removal Decision Brings CAFA Balance in Play

It’s been just over a year since the Supreme Court held conclusively in Royal Canin USA, Inc. v. Wullschleger that plaintiffs can defeat removal of a state court-filed complaint to federal court by excising the basis for that removal. The plaintiff is master of their complaint, the court held, and an amended complaint that removes any basis for federal jurisdiction under 28 U. S. C. §1441(a) completely supplants the original complaint that permitted removal.

Several circuit courts of appeal have incorporated Royal Canin into their decisions. As state and federal policy agendas diverge and federal enforcement shifts or recedes, a ...