Cook County Record-

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit is poised to become the first appeals court in the country to decide whether a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision could stop additional plaintiffs from joining class action lawsuits in states where they don’t live.

At issue is the Supreme Court’s decision in Bristol Meyers Squibb v. Superior Court of California. In that decision, the justices found non-residents couldn’t join a class action claim against a defendant whose principal presence was determined to be in a different state. The decision overrruled the California Supreme Court, which had determined out-of-state plaintiffs could join a mass action against pharmaceutical company Bristol Meyers Squibb.

In the new case heading to the Seventh Circuit court in Chicago, appeals judges have been asked to weigh in on whether the same principle excluding out-of-state plaintiffs from class actions in state courts should also extend to the federal courts.

Federal district courts in various parts of the country have split on the matter, but a judge in the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago found in the case of Mussat v. IQVIA Inc. that federal courts lacked jurisdiction over non-resident class members because the defendant was not incorporated, or had its main headquarters, in Illinois.

[COOK COUNTY RECORD]

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