Judah Rosenwald, et al. v. Kimberly-Clark Corporation

District Court, N.D. California·Decided June 30, 2026·No. 3:26-cv-01086·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 JUDAH ROSENWALD, et al., Case No. 26-cv-01086-AMO

8 Plaintiffs, ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFFS’ 9 v. MOTION TO REMAND AND GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION 10 KIMBERLY-CLARK CORPORATION, TO DISMISS 11 Defendant. Re: Dkt. Nos. 12, 22

12 13 This is a putative class action in which Plaintiffs Judah Rosenwald, Craig Chouraki-Lewin, 14 and Cindy Rutter (“Plaintiffs”) together advance state law claims of false advertising. Before the 15 Court are (1) Plaintiffs’ motion to remand (Dkt. No. 22) and (2) Defendant Kimberly-Clark 16 Corporation’s (“Kimberly-Clark”) motion to dismiss (Dkt. No. 12). Both motions are fully 17 briefed and suitable for decision without oral argument. Accordingly, the hearing set for June 4, 18 2026, was vacated. See Dkt. No. 34; see also Civil L.R. 7-6, Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 78(b). Having read 19 the parties’ papers and carefully considered their arguments and the relevant legal authority, and 20 good cause appearing, the Court DENIES Plaintiffs’ motion to remand and GRANTS Kimberly- 21 Clark’s motion to dismiss for the following reasons. 22 I. BACKGROUND 23 Plaintiffs claim that the packaging for Defendant Kimberly-Clark Corporation’s Kleenex 24 Germ Removal Wet Wipes (“the wipes”) misleadingly implies that the wipes contain a germicidal 25 ingredient. See Compl. (Dkt. No. 1-2). The Court largely assumes familiarity with the factual 26 allegations in Plaintiffs’ Complaint for purposes of this order, but it briefly describes the case’s 27 procedural history. After Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler dismissed Plaintiffs’ claims under the 1 Competition Law (“UCL”), Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200 et seq., on the merits in an earlier 2 iteration of this case, the Ninth Circuit vacated the dismissal and remanded with instructions to 3 dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction because Plaintiffs’ complaint did not plausibly 4 allege the requirements for diversity jurisdiction. Rosenwald v. Kimberly-Clark Corp., 152 F.4th 5 1167 (9th Cir. 2025); see also Rosenwald et al v. Kimberly Clark Corporation, N.D. Cal. Case No. 6 3:22-cv-04993-LB (complaint filed 8/31/22). Plaintiffs refiled their claims in California state 7 court, and Kimberly-Clark removed the case back to federal court, filing a notice of removal 8 containing the relevant jurisdictional allegations. See Notice of Removal (Dkt. No. 1). 9 II. DISCUSSION 10 As noted above, the parties have filed dueling motions: Plaintiffs move to remand the case 11 to state court, while Kimberly-Clark moves to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim. 12 See Dkt. Nos. 12, 22. Before considering the challenges raised against the complaint in Kimberly- 13 Clark’s motion to dismiss, the Court first takes up the motion to remand to confirm its jurisdiction 14 over the case. 15 A. Motion to Remand 16 Kimberly-Clark’s notice of removal advances a single basis for subject-matter jurisdiction: 17 diversity jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”), Title 28 U.S.C. 18 § 1332(d)(2). Dkt. No. 1 ¶ 9. In their motion to remand, Plaintiffs do not contest that this case 19 meets two of the three jurisdictional requirements under CAFA: minimal diversity, Title 28 U.S.C. 20 § 1332(d)(2)(A); see Dkt. No. 1 ¶¶ 14-16, and that the putative class contains more than 100 21 members, Title 28 U.S.C. § 1332(d)(5)(B); see Dkt. No. 1 ¶ 11. Rather, Plaintiffs’ motion to 22 remand challenges whether the amount put in controversy by the proposed class claims “exceeds 23 the sum or value of $5,000,000, exclusive of interest and costs.” 28 U.S.C. § 1332(d)(6). This 24 Court determines that the Defendant’s notice of removal plausibly alleges that the total amount of 25 alleged compensatory damages, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees places more than $5 million 26 in controversy. 27 Because the Court addresses the question in the removal posture, the analysis starts with 1 controversy exceeds the jurisdictional threshold.” Dart Cherokee Basin Operating Co. v. Owens, 2 574 U.S. 81, 89 (2014). The amount in controversy is the “amount at stake in the underlying 3 litigation.” Fritsch v. Swift Transp. Co. of Arizona, LLC, 899 F.3d 785, 793 (9th Cir. 4 2018) (quoting Gonzales v. CarMax Auto Superstores, LLC, 840 F.3d 644, 648 (9th Cir. 2016)). It 5 includes “damages (compensatory, punitive, or otherwise), the costs of complying with an 6 injunction, and attorneys’ fees awarded under fee-shifting statutes or contract.” Id. That amount 7 “is simply an estimate of the total amount in dispute, not a prospective assessment of defendant’s 8 liability.” Lewis v. Verizon Commc’ns, Inc., 627 F.3d 395, 400 (9th Cir. 2010). “As is 9 inescapable at this early stage of the litigation, the removing party must be able to rely” on a 10 “chain of reasoning” that is based on “reasonable” “assumptions.” Jauregui v. Roadrunner 11 Transp. Servs., Inc., 28 F.4th 989, 993 (9th Cir. 2022) (quoting LaCross v. Knight Transp. Inc., 12 775 F.3d 1200, 1201 (9th Cir. 2015)). “An assumption may be reasonable if it is founded on the 13 allegations of the complaint.” Arias v. Residence Inn by Marriott, 936 F.3d 920, 925 (9th Cir. 14 2019) (citing Ibarra v. Manheim Invs., Inc., 775 F.3d 1193, 1198-99 (9th Cir. 2015)). 15 The Court considers Plaintiffs’ threshold arguments regarding removal and subject matter 16 jurisdiction before taking up the sufficiency of Kimberly-Clark’s jurisdictional showing. 17 1. Plaintiffs’ Threshold Arguments 18 Plaintiffs resist Kimberly-Clark’s arguments regarding the presence of CAFA jurisdiction 19 on multiple grounds, including that (1) Plaintiffs advance a factual challenge to subject matter 20 jurisdiction, requiring Kimberly-Clark to satisfy a preponderance-of-the-evidence standard that it 21 does not satisfy; (2) the general presumption against removal jurisdiction weighs in Plaintiffs’ 22 favor and requires remand; and (3) Kimberly-Clark is estopped from re-litigating the issue of 23 jurisdiction based on the arguments and outcome of Rosenwald v. Kimberly-Clark Corp., 152 24 F.4th 1167. See Dkt. No. 22. The Court takes up these threshold arguments in turn. 25 a. Facial or Factual Challenge 26 Plaintiffs advance that Kimberly-Clark must establish by a preponderance of evidence that 27 the amount in controversy exceeds the jurisdictional threshold. See Dkt. No. 25. The 1 88. Here, Plaintiffs did not submit any evidence in support of an “evidentiary challenge to 2 removal.” Swearingen v. Gen. Motors LLC, No. 23-cv-04314, 2023 WL 7089936, at *2 (N.D. 3 Cal. Oct.

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