Palisades Collections LLC v. Shorts

PUBLISHED Filed: January 15, 2009 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT PALISADES COLLECTIONS LLC,  Plaintiff, v. CHARLENE SHORTS, Defendant-Appellee, v. No. 08-2188 AT&T MOBILITY LLC; AT&T  (5:07-cv-00098- MOBILITY CORPORATION, IMK) Counter-Defendants-Appellants. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES, Amicus Supporting Appellants.  ORDER The Court denies appellants’ petition for rehearing en banc. No member of the Court requested a poll on the petition for rehearing en banc. Judge Niemeyer filed an opinion dissent- ing from the denial of rehearing en banc. Entered at the direction of Chief Judge Williams. For the Court /s/ Patricia S. Connor Clerk 2 PALISADES COLLECTIONS v. SHORTS NIEMEYER, Circuit Judge, dissenting from the denial of rehearing en banc: While I find the petition for rehearing persuasive, I do not request a poll of the court. Because there is a respectable divi- sion of opinion on the issue of whether a party joined as an additional defendant to a counterclaim has rights under the Class Action Fairness Act, I prefer to release this case to the early consideration of the Supreme Court. This is an impor- tant issue of statutory interpretation, and the majority’s inter- pretation creates an unfortunate loophole in the Class Action Fairness Act that only the Supreme Court can now rectify.