Johnson v. Pushpin Holdings, LLC

Dist. Ct. erred in finding that defendant had failed to establish that class action alleging violation of Illinois Consumer Fraud Act met requisite $5 million statutory threshold under Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) so as to support lawsuit’s removal to federal court. While instant lawsuit alleged that defendant had filed 1,100 fraudulent small-claims actions, which concerned compensatory damages and legal fees that totaled no more than $3.5 million, said allegations were insufficient to cap any eventual damages award at less than $5 million amount in controversy threshold, where: (1) plaintiff did not irrevocably commit to obtaining less than $5 million for class members; and (2) defendant alleged that lawsuit actually concerned greater number of small claims actions that had potential for damages greater than $5 million. Thus, remand was required for new determination as to whether amount in controversy reached statutory threshold under CAFA.