From the outset, the federal Securities Exchange Act of 1934 granted the federal courts exclusive jurisdiction over suits brought under that act, while the Securities Act of 1933 granted state and federal courts concurrent jurisdiction over suits under the ’33 Act and barred removal of such suits from state to federal court.  SLUSA amended the Securities Act’s provision granting state and federal courts concurrent jurisdiction, adding “except as provided in section 77p with respect to covered class actions.”  This decision holds that the just quoted “except” clause did not deprive state courts of concurrent jurisdiction of class actions that rely solely on the ’33 Act.  Under the “except” clause, section 77p prevails over 77v(a) if they conflict, but they do not because 77p bars only securities cases based on state law, not cases brought under the ’33 Act.

United States Supreme Court (Kagan, J.); March 20, 2018; 2018 WL 1384564