John C. Kitchin, Jr., et al. v. Bridgeton Landfill, LLC, et al.

Under the Class Action Fairness Act’s “local controversy” exception, a federal district court must decline jurisdiction over a class action in which, among other requirements, there is a local defendant “whose alleged conduct forms a significant basis for the claims asserted by the proposed plaintiff class.” 28 U.S.C. § 1332(d)(4)(A)(i)(II)(bb). The question presented is whether this requirement can be satisfied where the local and non-local defendants engaged in the same alleged conduct (as the Sixth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits hold), or whether the alleged conduct of the local defendant must be different from that of the non-local defendants (as the Fifth and Eighth Circuits hold).