Supreme Court Says Unnamed Interested Parties Insufficient for Mass Action Removal Under Class Action Fairness Act

In Mississippi v. AU Optronics, the United States Supreme Court recently held that consumer actions filed in state court by an attorney general on behalf of the state’s citizens cannot be removed to federal court as “mass actions” under the Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”). In the unanimous opinion, authored by Justice Sotomayor, the Supreme Court held that even though the State of Mississippi was suing in a representative capacity, the Mississippi attorney general was only one person and therefore did not satisfy the 100-person requirement for removal to federal court under CAFA. While AU Optronics involved an action by the state attorney general, the Supreme Court’s ruling is instructive on the standards for removal of a mass action under CAFA and is applicable to public and private actions alike.