The Third Circuit ruled that Defendants timely removed this case. Plaintiffs purchased notary services at UPS stores in New Jersey. They filed two separate putative class action complaints in NJ state court against The UPS Store, Inc. The complaints asserted that the local UPS Stores charged them an amount for notary services that exceeded the $2.50 fee permitted by New Jersey state law. Defendants removed the cases to federal court, asserting that the Class Action Fairness Act’s (CAFA) jurisdictional requirements were met. Plaintiffs moved to remand, and the District Court granted the motion. The Third Circuit reversed and held that the initial pleadings did not demonstrate the existence of federal jurisdiction, and Defendants never received any paper that disclosed jurisdiction. Thus, no thirty-day clock began to run. And removal was timely. The Third Circuit remanded and ordered the District Court to consider whether the local controversy exception under CAFA required the Court to decline to decide these timely removed cases.
