Defendant to Counterclaim Cannot Remove under CAFA

The Fourth Circuit recently confirmed that the Class Action Fairness Act permits only true defendants to remove a case, not parties joined as defendants to a counterclaim.  Judge Karen Williams, writing for the court, held that “there is no indication in the language of section 1453(b) (or in the legislative history) that Congress intended to alter the traditional rule that only an original defendant may remove and to somehow transform an additional counter-defendant . . . into a ‘defendant’ with the power to remove.”  The full opinion in Palisades Collections LLC v. Shorts is available here.

ECB