News & Insights

Kagan Stern Attorneys Help Clients Achieve Dismissal of Claims in Federal Court

November 14, 2021

     Kagan Stern would like to congratulate attorneys Stephen Stern and Meagan Borgerson for helping multiple clients achieve dismissal of a federal lawsuit filed in Maryland.  Five automobile dealerships from California were sued in in Maryland, allegedly for breaching separate contracts they each entered into with the plaintiff.  When the dealerships originally did not respond, the court entered or order of default against each of them.  Kagan Stern sought to vacate the order of default on the grounds that the court did not have subject matter jurisdiction because the claims against each of the defendants did not seek damages in excess of the jurisdictional limit for diversity jurisdiction (i.e., $75,000) and the claims also could not be aggregated to establish federal jurisdiction.  The court agreed with the arguments made by Kagan Stern and dismissed the claims against each of the California entities.  

     A summary of the court’s opinion can be found at the link here.