This Article presents preliminary findings from the Federal Judicial Center’s (FJC) study of the impact of the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA) on filings and removals of class actions in the federal courts. After setting the FJC research in the context of the Judicial Conference’s evolving position with respect to expanded federal court jurisdiction over class actions, the Article shows that the monthly average number of diversity of citizenship class actions filed in or removed to the federal courts has ap-proximately doubled in the post-CAFA period (February 18, 2005, through June 30, 2006). The Article also presents preliminary findings on trends in federal question class action filings and removals, class action activity by nature-of-suit categories, and the geographic distribution of class action filings and removals in the federal courts.
Volume 156 Issue 6 2008 Article