James Connor v. O Positive, LLC

Summary

The United States District Court for the Central District of California denied Plaintiff James Connor’s motion to remand a putative class action against O Positive, LLC. The court held that Defendant established by a preponderance of the evidence that the amount in controversy exceeded the Class Action Fairness Act threshold, relying principally on a reduced 20% violation-rate calculation for waiting-time penalties.

Holdings

1. A removing defendant may establish the amount in controversy with declarations based on business and payroll records when the declarations explain the declarant's personal knowledge, identify the records reviewed, describe the review, and provide a methodology for the calculations.
2. The amount in controversy exceeded $5 million because a reasonable calculation of waiting-time penalties, based on a 20 percent violation rate and the number of separated employees, totaled $9,388,800.
3. The court need not determine the amount attributable to the remaining claims when the waiting-time-penalties claim alone exceeds the CAFA amount-in-controversy threshold.

Questions Presented

1. Whether O Positive established by a preponderance of the evidence that the amount in controversy exceeded $5 million for purposes of CAFA jurisdiction.
2. Whether O Positive's declarations based on payroll records provided sufficient foundation and admissible evidence to support its amount-in-controversy calculations.
3. Whether O Positive's assumptions concerning the number of separated employees, hourly rates, work hours, and violation rate were reasonable for calculating waiting-time penalties.

Disposition

other