Individual Claims Are Immaterial Because CAFA Aggregates The Class Claims

Stella v. Hertz Corp, 2013 WL 2456042 (S.D. Cal. June 5, 2013).

Establishing that the named plaintiff's individual claims exceeds $75,000 is immaterial to CAFA jurisdiction.  What is important under CAFA is that the claim of the class should exceed $5 million.  Because the defendant here did not establish CAFA requirements, a District Court in California remanded the action to state court.   

The plaintiff, former non-exempt employee, brought an action in Alameda Superior Court, alleging failure to provide timely off-duty meal period to the defendant's California non-exempt employees who were the sole employees on duty, failure to provide and/or on duty meal periods, and failure to pay full wages due upon separation of employment.