Del Vecchio v. Conseco, Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
230 F.3d 974 (7th Cir. 2000)
Del Vecchio (plaintiff) sued insurance companies (defendants) for fraud on behalf of himself and other policyholders, asserting federal diversity jurisdiction by aggregating all plaintiffs' claims to exceed $75,000; after the district court granted summary judgment on statute-of-limitations grounds, the Seventh Circuit questioned jurisdiction and requested supplemental briefing, in which Del Vecchio argued his own individual punitive-damages claim alone satisfied the jurisdictional amount despite only $600 in claimed compensatory damages.
Whether the amount-in-controversy requirement for federal diversity jurisdiction may be satisfied by aggregating multiple plaintiffs' individual, distinct claims.