Dismissal for Lack of Jurisdiction Under Class Action Fairness Act, and Criminal Matter

Cappuccitti v. DirecTV, Inc., No. 09-14107, involved an action against DirecTV, Inc., seeking the recovery, on behalf of plaintiffs and similarly situated DirecTV subscribers in Georgia, of the fees DirecTV charged its subscribers for canceling their subscriptions prior to the subscriptions' expiration.  The court of appeals vacated the district court's partial dismissal of the complaint on the merits, holding that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) because the complaint failed to meet the CAFA's requirement that at least one plaintiff allege an individual amount in controversy over $75,000.

In Hall v. Thomas, No. 09-12728, a robbery and kidnapping prosecution, the court of appeals affirmed the denial of petitioner's habeas petition, on the grounds that 1) the totality of the circumstances here indicated that defendant's waiver of his Miranda rights and his subsequent confession were knowing, intelligent, and voluntary; 2) petitioner failed to show that evidence of his intelligence would have made a difference in the state court's finding that the confession was voluntary; and 3) the Alabama courts' conclusion--that petitioner's trial counsel was not ineffective--was not an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented, nor was it contrary to, or an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal law.

Related Resources

• Full Text of Cappuccitti v. DirecTV, Inc., No. 09-14107
• Full Text of Hall v. Thomas, No. 09-12728