Crane on Law by James Crane

There’s been another significant Class Action Fairness Act holding regarding when an action is “commenced.” A party argued in Bush v. Cheaptickets, Inc., that an action is “commenced” on the date it is removed to federal court. Judge Bybee, writing for a unanimous panel, rejected the argument, calling it “nonsensical, since every action that could be removed must have been previously commenced.” The alternative argument that an action was commenced when process was served was also rejected as having “no basis in the Act or the statutory scheme for this claim.” This holding is consistent with the Seventh and Tenth Circuit holdings rejecting that the date of removal should be used for determining “commenced” pursuant to CAFA.