7th Circuit considers CAFA’s internal-affairs exception in class action dispute

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted November 10, 2023 10:28 AM

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals considered the internal-affairs exception to the Class Action Fairness Act in a case where Country Mutual Insurance Co. and its officers and directors used CAFA to remove a state-court class action that accused them of retaining $3.5 billion in “excess surplus” as part of a plan to enrich insiders.Suing on behalf of Country Mutual’s policyholder/members in St. Clair County, the class action alleged three claims against the company — breach of contract, consumer fraud and unjust …

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