ELR Citation: 53 ELR 20049
No(s). 21-1752 (8th Cir. Mar 23, 2023)

The Eighth Circuit affirmed a district court ruling granting the state of Minnesota's motion to remand to state court a climate liability lawsuit alleging that fossil fuel producers fraudulently marketed their products and misinformed customers about the dangers of fossil fuel use. Minnesota sued the producers in state court, alleging common-law fraud and violations of state consumer protection statutes. The producers removed the suit to federal court, and Minnesota moved to remand. The district court granted the motion, finding it lacked original jurisdiction and that the claims did not have sufficient connection to the producers' purported federally directed activities. On appeal, the producers argued the claims were removable under the general removal statute, the federal officer removal statute, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, and the Class Action Fairness Act. The appellate court found that federal common law on transboundary pollution did not completely preempt Minnesota's claims nor was federal law a necessary element to any of the claims; that the production of military-grade fuel, operation of federal oil leases, and participation in strategic energy infrastructure bore little to no relationship with how producers conducted marketing activities to the general public; that the producers' marketing activities were not conducted on the outer continental shelf; and that neither the state nor attorney general needed to suffer a sufficiently common injury to pursue claims on behalf of Minnesota residents. It affirmed the district court's remand.