Ralph Wellington and Alison Finnegan Keep NJ Train Derailment Suit in Federal Court

In an April 23, 2013 Law360 article titled “NJ Train Derailment Suit Stays In Federal Court,” Ralph G. Wellington and Alison C. Finnegan were noted for their success in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey for preventing a putative class action suit against railroad companies involved in a southern New Jersey derailment from being sent to state court.

The railroad companies demonstrated that the amount in controversy exceeded a jurisdictional threshold of $5 million under the Class Action Fairness Act. Judge Robert B. Kuglar noted that the companies did not need to demonstrate to absolute certainty that plaintiffs will recover more than $5 million, but instead the companies needed to establish to a legal certainty that plaintiffs can recover the jurisdictional minimum.