Amount in controversy - sustany/dvg GitHub Wiki

Amount in controversy refers to the amount of money a plaintiff seeks in a lawsuit. The monetary value of a non-monetary remedy such as an injunction can also be included in the amount in controversy. For a case to be heard in district court on grounds of diversity jurisdiction, the amount in controversy a plaintiff pleads must exceed $75,000.��

As established in St. Paul Mercury v. Red Cab Co, courts exercising diversity jurisdiction will defer to the plaintiff�s pleadings as to the amount in controversy so long as they were filed in good faith and the defense cannot show to a legal certainty that the plaintiff cannot recover above $75,000. Amount in controversy is determined at the start of the trial and, therefore, a verdict from a court exercising diversity jurisdiction will not be thrown out if a jury determines that a plaintiff is entitled to less than $75,000.�

Multiple claims can occasionally be aggregated to meet the amount in controversy requirement. For more information, see aggregation of jurisdictional amount.�

In addition to diversity jurisdiction, amount in controversy is relevant to a few other situations:�

• As established by the Class Action Fairness Act, a district court only has jurisdiction over a class action if the amount in controversy exceeds $5,000,000.
• State courts also can have amount in controversy requirements, usually appearing in the form of tiered court systems.
  • For example, Massachusetts small claims court only has jurisdiction over the cases of individuals where the amount in controversy does not exceed $7000.

Amount in controversy is also referred to as jurisdictional amount.�

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