Jarrett v. Panasonic Corp. of North America

934 F. Supp. 2d 1020, 2013 WL 1276995, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46932
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Arkansas
DecidedMarch 27, 2013
DocketNo. 4:12-cv-00739-SWW
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 934 F. Supp. 2d 1020 (Jarrett v. Panasonic Corp. of North America) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jarrett v. Panasonic Corp. of North America, 934 F. Supp. 2d 1020, 2013 WL 1276995, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46932 (E.D. Ark. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

SUSAN WEBBER WRIGHT, District Judge.

Plaintiff Denise Jarrett brings this class action against Defendants Panasonic Cor[1022]*1022poration of North America, Sanyo North America Corporation, Sanyo Manufacturing Corporation, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., and Wal-Mart Stores Arkansas, L.L.C., alleging the Defendants designed, manufactured, distributed or sold defective 42" and 46" Sanyo plasma televisions. Plaintiff filed her action in the Circuit Court of Pulaski County, Arkansas, but it was removed to this Court by Defendants under the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA), 28 U.S.C. § 1332(d).

Now before the Court is Plaintiffs motion to remand on grounds this action does not fall within CAFA jurisdiction [doc. # 13]. Defendants have responded in opposition to Plaintiffs motion and Plaintiff has filed a reply to Defendants’ response. For the reasons that follow, the Court denies Plaintiffs motion to remand.

I.

Plaintiff claims that in November 2010 she purchased a 46" Sanyo plasma television at a Wal-Mart store in Little Rock, Arkansas, but that in October 2011, the television began to malfunction, losing partial picture resulting in the right side of the screen becoming black. Compl. ¶¶ 17-18. Plaintiff claims “[t]he 42" and 46" Sanyo plasma televisions have a design defect causing the screen to flicker, lose picture intermittently, lose full picture and/or lose full picture and sound, sometimes within hours of purchase.” Compl. ¶ 6. Plaintiff claims the defect she experienced is “widespread and systemic across the United States” and that “[d]espite longstanding knowledge of the problems,” Defendants have purposely concealed, suppressed, and omitted to disclose to consumers that its 42" and 46" Sanyo plasma televisions are defectively designed. Compl. ¶¶ 7, 20. Plaintiff asserts the following claims against Defendants: Count I — Breach of Implied Warranty of Merchantability; Count II — Violation of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (ADTPA), Ark.Code Ann. § 4-88-101 et seq.; and Count III — Unjust Enrichment. Compl. ¶¶ 42-74.

Plaintiff proposes a putative class that consists of “[a]ll persons and entities residing in the United States who purchased a 42" and 46" Sanyo plasma television” and a putative subclass of “[a]ll persons and entities residing in the State of Arkansas who purchased a 42" and 46" Sanyo plasma television.” Compl. ¶ 24. Plaintiff claims that the class and subclass “are both composed of, at least, thousands of people who purchased 42" and 46" Sanyo televisions, with the same common defect that causes similar characteristics and symptoms.” Compl. at ¶ 25. Plaintiff claims that the purchase price of the televisions was between $900 and $1,500 and that the repair costs have ranged “from $500 to $700 and more.” Compl. ¶¶ 5, 8.

As for the relief sought, Plaintiff has included in her complaint a stipulation to seek “[a]ctual and compensatory damages in an amount less than $75,000 per Plaintiff and each Class member not to exceed a total of five million dollars ($5,000,000), exclusive of interest and costs.” Compl. pg. 17, ¶ D. Plaintiff also seeks, inter alia, equitable and injunctive relief, punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees. Compl. pg. 17, ¶¶ B, E, and G.

II.

CAFA grants federal district courts original jurisdiction over state-law-based class actions so long as there is minimal diversity, at least 100 class members, and the amount in controversy exceeds the sum or value of $5 million, exclusive of interest and costs. 28 U.S.C. §§ 1332(d)(2), (5)(B); Standard Fire Ins. v. Knowles, — U.S. -, 133 S.Ct. 1345, 1348-49, 185 L.Ed.2d 439 (2013). CAFA [1023]*1023“is intended to expand substantially federal court jurisdiction over class actions” and “[i]ts provisions should be read broadly, with a strong preference that interstate class actions should be heard in a federal court if properly removed by any.defendant.” Westerfeld v. Independent Processing, LLC, 621 F.3d 819, 822 (8th Cir.2010) (quoting S.Rep. No. 109-14, at 43 (2005), 2005 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3, 41). See also Knowles, 133 S.Ct. at 1350 (primary objective of CAFA is to ensure federal court consideration of interstate cases of national importance).

Plaintiff does not dispute that at least one member of the putative class is a citizen of a state different from that of at least one Defendant and that the aggregate number of putative class members exceeds 100. Rather, Plaintiff argues that this action does not fall within CAFA jurisdiction because Defendants have failed to meet their burden of proof showing that the amount in controversy exceeds the sum or value of $5 million, exclusive of interest and costs. Plaintiff argues this action must therefore be remanded to the state court from which it was removed.

A.

A party seeking to remove an action under CAFA must establish the amount in controversy by a preponderance of the evidence regardless of whether the complaint alleges an amount below the jurisdictional minimum. Hartis v. Chicago Title Ins. Co., 694 F.3d 935, 944 (8th Cir.2012); Bell v. Hershey Co., 557 F.3d 953, 958 (8th Cir.2009). Under the preponderance standard, the jurisdictional fact “is not whether the damages are greater than the requisite amount, but whether a fact finder might legally conclude” that they are. Hartis, 694 F.3d at 944 (quoting Bell, 557 F.3d at 959) (emphasis in original). Such an inquiry is fact intensive. Id. The removing party’s burden of describing how the controversy exceeds $5 million constitutes a pleading requirement, not a demand for proof. Id. at 944-945 (quotation marks and citation omitted). Discovery and trial come later. Id. The removing party need not confess liability in order to show that the controversy exceeds the threshold.. Id. at 945. “[T]he claims of the individual class members shall be aggregated” in determining whether the jurisdictional minimum under CAFA has been met, 28 U.S.C. § 1332(d)(6), and there is no requirement under CAFA that any individual plaintiffs claim must exceed $75,000. Cappuccitti v. DirecTV, Inc., 623 F.3d 1118, 1122 (11th Cir.2010) (per curiam) (citing 14AA Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Edward H. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure § 3704 (Supp.2010)).

“Once the removing party has established by a preponderance of the evidence that the jurisdictional minimum is satisfied, remand is only appropriate if the plaintiff can establish to a legal certainty that the claim is for less than the requisite amount.” Id. (quoting Bell, 557 F.3d at 956). In addressing this issue, “ ‘[i]t is axiomatic that the court’s jurisdiction is measured either at the time the action is commenced or, more pertinent to this case, at the time of removal.’ ” Hargis v. Access Capital Funding, LLC,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
934 F. Supp. 2d 1020, 2013 WL 1276995, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46932, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jarrett-v-panasonic-corp-of-north-america-ared-2013.