Back Doctors Ltd. v. Metropolitan Property and Casualty Ins. Co.

Dist. Ct. erred in remanding back to state court instant action alleging violations of Ill. Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act arising out of defendant's use of software that, according to plaintiff, short-changed medical providers, where instant lawsuit had been removed to federal court under Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA). While plaintiff argued that stakes involved in instant action did not meet $5 million threshold for CAFA actions because it asked for only $2.9 million in compensatory damages and did not seek any punitive damages, Ct. of Appeals found that Dist. Ct. had jurisdiction over case since $5 million threshold was not impossible for plaintiff to recover where plaintiff had not disclaimed punitive damages in its complaint or otherwise disavowed punitive damages as matter of law. Moreover, Ct. observed that there was nothing in instant record that would preclude plaintiff from seeking punitive damages at later point in proceedings, and that $2.1 in punitive damages was possible should plaintiff subsequently decide to seek them.