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Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. v. George W. Jackson

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, No. 17-1627 · judgment January 22, 2018

Decided · May 28, 2019
Pre-decision estimate: 9% cert probability (95% interval 6%–13%)

Before the decision, about 2.1× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a circuit split argued in the petition, a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition), and a petition filed soon after the judgment below.

Questions presented

  1. This action was commenced when Citibank, N.A. filed a routine state-court collection action against respondent George W. Jackson. Petitioner Home Depot U. S. A., Inc. was not a party to that action and never became a party to that collection dispute. Jackson then filed a counterclaim against Citibank asserting class-action consumer-protection claims. In addition to naming Citibank, Jackson named Home Depot and another company as original defendant to that counterclaim class action. The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, Pub. L. No. 109-2, 119 Stat. 4, permits "any defendant in a state-court class action to remove the action to federal court if it satisfies certain jurisdictional requirements. Petitioner Home Depot is an original defendant in the class action at issue here and was never a plaintiff in any claim associated with this case. The question presented is: Whether an original defendant to a class-action claim can remove the class action if it otherwise satisfies the jurisdictional requirements of the Class Action Fairness Act when the class action was originally asserted as a counterclaim against a co-defendant.

  2. Added by the Court: Should This Court’s holding in shamrock oil & gas corp. v. sheets, 313 u. s. 100 (1941) – that an original plaintiff may not remove a counterclaim Against it- extend to Third-party counterclaim defendants?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
William Peter Barnette
Home Depot, U.S.A., Inc.

For respondent
Brian William Warwick
Varnell & Warwick, P.A.

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
3 cert-stage · 5 merits
(3 supporting pet./neither, 2 respondent)

Argument & decision

Argued January 15, 2019 — William P. Barnette · F. Paul Bland. Audio and transcript

Decided May 28, 2019. Opinion by Thomas.

Proceedings

  1. Aug 05 2019
    Rehearing DENIED.
  2. Aug 05 2019
    JUDGMENT ISSUED.
  3. Jul 11 2019
    DISTRIBUTED.
  4. Jun 21 2019
    Petition for Rehearing filed.
  5. May 28 2019
    Adjudged to be AFFIRMED. Thomas, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan, JJ., joined. Alito, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Roberts, C. J., and Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, JJ., joined.
  6. Jan 15 2019
    Argued. For petitioner: William P. Barnette, Atlanta, Ga. For respondent: F. Paul Bland, Washington, D. C.
  7. Jan 08 2019
    Reply of petitioner Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. filed. (Distributed)
  8. Dec 17 2018
    Brief amicus curiae of American Association for Justice filed. (Distributed)
  9. Dec 17 2018
    Brief amicus curiae of The National Consumer Law Center filed. (Distributed)
  10. Dec 13 2018
    Record from the U.S.D.C. Western District of North Carolina is electronic and located on PACER. The record is complete.
  11. Dec 11 2018
    Record requested from the U.S.C.A. 4th Circuit.
  12. Dec 11 2018
    Record from the U.S.C.A. 4th Circuit is electronic and located on PACER.
  13. Dec 10 2018
    Brief of respondent George W. Jackson filed. (Distributed)
  14. Nov 30 2018
    CIRCULATED
  15. Nov 28 2018
    SET FOR ARGUMENT ON Tuesday, January 15, 2019
  16. Nov 16 2018
    Brief amici curiae of Retail Litigation Center, Inc., et al. filed.
  17. Nov 16 2018
    Amicus brief of Retail Litigation Center, Inc. and Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America not accepted for filing. (November 16, 2018) (Duplicate submission)
  18. Nov 16 2018
    Brief amici curiae of Washington Legal Foundation, et al. filed.
  19. Nov 15 2018
    Brief amicus curiae of DRI-The Voice of the Defense Bar filed.
  20. Nov 09 2018
    Brief of petitioner Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. filed.
  21. Nov 09 2018
    Joint appendix filed. (Statement of costs filed)
  22. Sep 27 2018
    Petition GRANTED. In addition to the questions presented by the petition, the parties are directed to brief and argue the following question: Should this Court's holding in Shamrock Oil & Gas Corp. v. Sheets, 313 U. S. 100 (1941)—that an original plaintiff may not remove a counterclaim against it—extend to third-party counterclaim defendants?
  23. Jul 11 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/24/2018.
  24. Jul 10 2018
    Reply of petitioner Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. filed.
  25. Jun 25 2018
    Brief of respondent George W. Jackson in opposition filed.
  26. May 25 2018
    Brief amici curiae of Retail Litigation Center, Inc. and Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America filed.
  27. May 25 2018
    Brief amicus curiae of Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc. filed.
  28. May 22 2018
    Brief amicus curiae of DRI-The Voice of the Defense Bar filed.
  29. May 18 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including June 25, 2018.
  30. May 14 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from May 25, 2018 to June 25, 2018, submitted to The Clerk.
  31. Apr 23 2018
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due May 25, 2018)