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In United Steel et al. v. Shell Oil Co., et al., the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that putative class action lawsuits properly removed to federal court under the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 ("CAFA") [28 USC 1332(d), 1453 ] may remain in federal court even after the court denies class certification.

If the putative class action was properly removed to begin with, the subsequent denial of Rule 23 class certification does not divest the district court of jurisdiction. The case remains removed and is not to be remanded to state court."

Congress intended that a properly removed class action be remanded if a class is not eventually certified, it could have said so." 

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Typically, tort reform efforts are premised on the belief that the court systems are overly filled with unworthy cases and the awards in those cases are unnecessarily excessive. Surely, many insurers and other defendants would agree with that presupposition. Many plaintiff attorneys would vehemently disagree. If you are the former, Assembly Bill 2740, authored by Assemblyman Roger Niello (R-Fair Oaks), might be of great interest. Indeed, if it survives the gauntlet of the California legislature, AB 2740 would eliminate what many insurers and other defendants view as unpredictable jackpot awards that only drive up premiums for insureds and the cost of doing business for all companies operating in California.   

Most importantly for insurers, the bill would limit punitive damages to three times the amount of compensatory damages, and would be applicable to claims for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing (colloquially known as “bad faith”). While Supreme Court decisions have recently sought to limit the ratio of punitive to compensatory damages, the decisions have not been evenly applied by trial and appellate courts; AB 2740 would effectively resolve and limit the ratio component.  

In addition, the bill also would limit non-economic damages, i.e., damages for pain and suffering, to $250,000 in all civil cases. (This $250,000 cap on non-economic damages has been the law in California for medical malpractice claims since the passage of the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act of 1975.)

While it is currently unclear if AB 2740 will gain any momentum in the California legislature, insurers can hold hope for – or at least keep watchful eyes on – this promising legislation. We expect that Governor Schwarzenegger would sign the bill if it passed in the legislature.  We will keep you updated on its progress. The next hearing is in the Assembly’s Judiciary Committee on May 4, 2010.

The full text of the proposed legislation can be found here.

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by Gregory O. Eisenreich and Marina Karvelas

In a putative class action, Ojo v. Farmers Group, Inc., et al., Case No. 06-55522 (9th Cir. April 9, 2010), an en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided a case where the Plaintiff alleged that the use of credit-scoring factors in the pricing of homeowner's insurance in Texas had a disparate impact on minorities in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act ("FHA"), 42 U.S.C. sections 3601-19.

The Ninth Circuit held that the FHA prohibits discrimination in the denial and pricing of homeowner's insurance. In doing so, it joined the Sixth and Seventh Circuits and disagreed with the Fourth Circuit on the issue of whether the FHA applied to homeowner's insurance.

It should be noted that the Court did not reach the issue of whether the use of credit-scoring factors actually violates the FHA, noting that there could be a "legally sufficient, nondiscriminatory reason" causing a disparate impact and that the defendant is also entitled to rebut the facts of an alleged prima facie case.  

After addressing whether the FHA applied to homeowner's insurance, the Court held that the McCarran-Ferguson Act may "reverse-preempt" claims under the FHA. However, the Ninth Circuit did not decide the critical question.

[B]ecause the issue's resolution will have pervasive implications for future claims brought against Texas insurers, we have concluded that the appropriate course of action is to certify the issue to the Supreme Court of Texas.

Under the McCarran-Ferguson Act, state law preempts a federal statute if:

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