Second Circuit Holds That a State’s Parens Patriae Action Is Not Removable as a “Class Action” Under the Class Action Fairness Act

Consistent with rulings of other circuits, the Second Circuit held today, in Purdue Pharma v. Commonwealth of Kentucky, that a state's parens patriae action is not removable from state court to federal court as a "class action" under the Class Action Fairness Act. (A parens patriae action is one in which the state or other government pursues relief in court on behalf of its citizens.) Therefore, the court of appeals held, the district court properly had properly remanded Kentucky's parens patriae action to the state court from which it had been removed.