Christopher Hardy, individually and on behalf of all similarly situated persons v. Jeffrey Parker

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of Colorado granted the plaintiff’s motion to remand a putative class action alleging violations of Colorado wage and break laws. The court held that the defendant failed to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the amount in controversy exceeded the Class Action Fairness Act’s $5 million threshold because the removal calculations relied on unsupported assumptions regarding missed breaks and average shift lengths. The case was remanded to the District Court of El Paso County and closed.

Holdings

1. The defendant failed to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the amount in controversy exceeds $5,000,000 because his calculation depended on unsupported assumptions about the frequency of missed breaks and employee shift lengths.
2. The defendant could not rely on a universal missed-break assumption without evidence supporting that assumption, because the complaint alleged that employees were not provided all required breaks rather than that no required breaks were provided on every shift.
3. The defendant could not establish the amount in controversy by applying the same 6.36-hour shift length and corresponding 50 minutes of missed breaks to all employees without evidence showing that the average was representative of the class.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Parker established by a preponderance of the evidence that the amount in controversy exceeded CAFA's $5,000,000 jurisdictional threshold.
2. Whether Parker's assumptions that employees universally missed all required breaks and that all employees worked the average 6.36-hour shift were sufficiently supported to establish the amount in controversy.
3. Whether the action should be remanded to state court.

Disposition

remanded