Question

Why does the following code change all of the TDs in the table with the class=dupegroup red? The TD that fires the click event has a checkbox in it. I want to know the value of the first TD in the row so I put a class=dupegroup on it. The ajax call updates the database. This is just a test so I could figure out a way to get the value of the first TD.

$('.notdupe').live('click', function (e) {
    $.ajax({
      type: "POST",
      url: "cfc/basic.cfc?method=SetNotDupe",
      data: "indivNum=" + $(e.target).val() + "&SetValue=" + $(e.target).is(":checked"),
      error: function (xhr, textStatus, errorThrown) {
      }
    });
        $('td').prev('.dupegroup').css('background-color', 'red');
  });

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adding HTML from comment…

<td class="dupegroup">#dupe_group_number#</td> 
<td>
    <input type="checkbox" name="UserIDList" value="#userid#"/>
</td> 
<td>
    <a href="#request.controlURL#individuals/?fa=viewIndiv&dkey=#userid#" target="_blank">
        #userid# 
</td> 
<td>#lastname#</td> 
<td>#firstname#</td> 
<td>#nickname#</td> 
<td>#companyname#</td> 
<td>#address1#</td> 
<td>#zipcode#</td> 
<td>#state#</td> 
<td align="center">
    <input class="notdupe" type="checkbox" name="indivID" value="#userid#" checked />
</td>

Answer 1

As @am not i am said should work but if you already have a unique way to grab it…why not just write it like this

$('td.dupegroup').css({'background-color', 'red'});