Scott v. Cricket Communications LLC (Fourth Circuit)

The plaintiff in this case brought a putative class action in Maryland state court alleging that our client sold defective cell phones. We removed the case to federal court, demonstrating that based on the number of phones sold to Maryland residents, the amount in controversy easily satisfied the minimum requirement of the Class Action Fairness Act. But the district court held that this evidence was irrelevant because the plaintiff had defined his putative class as Maryland citizens. We prevailed on appeal, convincing the Fourth Circuit that the district court had applied the incorrect legal standard.