The AP (3/20, Sherman) reports, “A unanimous Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected efforts by a plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit to keep his claim in state court rather than more business-friendly federal court by limiting the amount of money sought to under $5 million.” The AP continues, “The justices threw out a federal appeals court ruling in favor of an Arkansas homeowner who sued his insurer, the Standard Fire Insurance Co. of Hartford, Conn., over the cost of repairing hail damage. The appeals court sided with the homeowner, Greg Knowles of Miller County in southwestern Arkansas, in allowing the case to go forward in state court because Knowles promised in writing to seek less than $5 million for himself and other Arkansas homeowners insured by Standard Fire. But Justice Stephen Breyer said for the high court that Knowles could not bind all others who might join the lawsuit to the $5 million limit.”

The National Law Journal (3/20, Coyle) reports, “Plaintiffs' lawyers in proposed class actions cannot avoid federal courts by promising to seek less than $5 million in damages, according to a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday. 'Our reason is a simple one,' wrote Justice Stephen Breyer in Standard Fire Insurance v. Knowles. 'Stipulations must be binding.' A plaintiff who files a proposed class action, he added, 'cannot legally bind members of the proposed class before the class is certified.'” The Journal adds, “The case was closely watched by the nation's business community because of its potential implications for removals of class actions filed in state courts to what are generally viewed as more business-friendly federal courts.”

Reuters (3/20, Hurley) also reports this story.