Wage Law

Upon remand, a plaintiff whose case was wrongfully removed under the Class Action Fairness Act is generally entitled to recover reasonable attorney's fees incurred in connection with the wrongful removal and remand. However, when the right to remove is unsettled at the time of the removal, the District Court has the discretion to deny fees to the plaintiff. Lussier v. Dollar Tree Stores, Inc. (9th Cir. 2008) __ F.3d __.

John Lussier and Mary Hawks, putative class representatives in litigation against Dollar Tree Stores, Inc., appeal the district court’s denial of their request for attorney’s fees following their successful motion to remand the underlying action after it had been removed by Dollar Tree pursuant to the recently enacted Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA). 28 U.S.C. § 1332(d)(2) (2005). We conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in finding that, given the lack of clarity in the law at the time, Dollar Tree’s removal arguments were not unreasonable. Accordingly, we affirm.

Of course, since the case arises out of unpaid wages, the plaintiffs can ultimately still recover those fees if they prevail in the action.