CAFA

Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA)

USA

A federal law that made various changes to US class action procedure. Some of the important changes include:

• Allowing more class actions to be filed in, or removed to, federal court by expanding federal diversity jurisdiction over certain class actions.

• Requiring defendants to notify certain state and/or federal officials of a proposed class action settlement within ten days after it is filed in court.

• Prohibiting courts from discriminating against class members based on their geographical location when making settlement awards.

• Altering the way in which plaintiffs' attorneys are compensated when the class members are compensated with coupons.

CAFA applies only to class actions filed on or after its enactment date of February 18, 2005. Its various provisions are scattered throughout the US Code (28 U.S.C. §§ 1332(d), 1453 and 1711-1715).

class action