Tenth Circuit holds that environmental contamination case doesn't require remand under Class Action Fairness Act's "local controversy" exception

Although the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA) permits most significant class actions to be heard in federal court, the law requires district courts to remand so-called "local controversies" to state court. A "local controversy" is a class action in which "greater than two-thirds of the members of the proposed classes" are "citizens" of the forum state and at least one defendant "from whom significant relief is sought" and whose "alleged conduct forms a significant basis for the claims asserted" is also a "citizen" of that state. 28 U.S.C. §1332(d)(4).

In an effort to come within this exception, plaintiffs' lawyers sometimes will limit the putative class to citizens of a particular state and will attempt to portray an in-state defendant as a significant player in the alleged wrong.