Doss v. NPC International, Inc.

Full title: MONIQUE DOSS, ET AL., PLAINTIFFS, v. NPC INTERNATIONAL, INC. d/b/a PIZZA…

Court: United States District Court, N.D. Mississippi, Greenville Division

Date published: Sep 22, 2009

CIVIL ACTION NO. 4:09CV076-P-S (N.D. Miss. Sep. 22, 2009)

Opinion

CIVIL ACTION NO. 4:09CV076-P-S.

September 22, 2009

ORDER

W. PEPPER JR., District Judge

This matter comes before the court upon the plaintiff's Motion to Remand and for Sanctions [7]. After due consideration of the motion and the response filed thereto, the court finds as follows, to-wit:

It is undisputed that the plaintiffs purported to limit themselves to no more than $75,000.00 per plaintiff in the Complaint. It is also undisputed that the Complaint seeks an unspecified amount of punitive damages. Pursuant to Allen v. R H Oil Gas Co., punitive damages asserted in Complaints in Mississippi are to be aggregated for the purposes of the amount in controversy requirement for federal diversity jurisdiction. 63 F.3d 1326, 1334 (5^th Cir. 1995) ("[T]he unique nature of [punitive damages] awards requires, at least in Mississippi, that the full amount of alleged damages be counted against each plaintiff in determining the jurisdictional amount.").

Accordingly, since aggregation of the unspecified amount of punitive damages added to the $75,000 sought by each plaintiff meets the amount in controversy requirement, and there is diversity of citizenship between the parties, the court finds that it possesses federal diversity jurisdiction and that the plaintiff's motion to remand should be denied.

IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that:

(1) The plaintiff's Motion to Remand and for Sanctions [7] is DENIED; therefore,

(2) The parties are to contact the U.S. Magistrate Judge within 10 business days of this Order to obtain a Scheduling Order.

SO ORDERED.