Margaret N. Butler v. General Motors LLC, a Delaware Limited Liability Company, and DOES 1-10, inclusive

Summary

The United States District Court for the Central District of California granted Margaret N. Butler’s motion to remand her lemon law action to the Los Angeles County Superior Court. The court held that General Motors had not plausibly established the $50,000 amount-in-controversy requirement for federal-question jurisdiction under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act because attorneys’ fees authorized by that Act could not be included where the underlying California Commercial Code claim did not provide for fee shifting. The court did not reach whether removal was timely.

Holdings

1. Attorneys' fees may be included in the Magnuson-Moss amount-in-controversy calculation only when they are available to the prevailing plaintiff under an underlying state fee-shifting statute; fees authorized solely by the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act cannot be included.
2. General Motors failed to establish that the amount in controversy exceeded the $50,000 Magnuson-Moss threshold because the amounts alleged without attorneys' fees were only $35,760 in the notice of removal and $24,292 in its opposition.
3. The action must be remanded to the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles because General Motors did not establish federal subject matter jurisdiction.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the amount in controversy satisfied the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act's $50,000 federal jurisdictional threshold.
2. Whether attorneys' fees authorized by the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, rather than by the underlying state-law claim, could be included in the amount-in-controversy calculation.
3. Whether the district court should decide the timeliness of removal after determining that subject matter jurisdiction was lacking.

Disposition

remanded