Bullard v. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co.

EASTERBROOK, Chief Judge.

A complaint identifying 144 plaintiffs sought damages from four corporations that had designed, manufactured, transported, or used chemicals that allegedly escaped from a wood-processing plant and injured people living nearby. Defendants removed the suit from the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. They relied on a provision of the Class Action Fairness Act that creates federal jurisdiction over class litigation—including “mass actions” in which plaintiffs propose a trial involving the…