Wahoo! Allapattah came down the right way!

According to the invaluable SCOTUS Blog, not to be confused with a blog about John Duns Scotus, q.v., the consolidated cases of Exxon Corp. v. Allapattah Services (04-70) and Ortega v. Star-Kist Foods (04-79) were just decided:

If one member of a class satisfies the amount in controversy requirement (currently in excess of $75,000 for diversity jurisdiction) then the class is deemed to satisfy the amount, even if the claims of others are for less, in some cases far less, than $75,000.

This result is plainly right.

If you have, for example, fourteen people with injuries of $74,000, they might not be able to get into federal court on diversity unless they can aggregate the claims.

If, in contrast, you have ninety thousand people with claims that vary from $10 on up to $150,000, it doesn't make any sense to be able to get justice for those with claims from $75,000.01 on up in a class action, while excluding those with claims just under $75,000. Class actions, when permitted by law, are supposed to ease the burden on plaintiffs and defendants alike by allowing claims to be decided together, in a single trial or series of trials, rather than by depending on piecemeal and widely dispersed actions. There's potentially no federal forum for a person with an injury of $100, or $60,000, unless you can get in together with someone who was injured more than you were.

I'm willing to hear dissenting views. Overlawyered and class action defense counsel, I'm looking at you.