ELR Citation: 53 ELR 20011
No(s). 22 C 5339 (N.D. Ill. Jan 9, 2023) (Gettleman, J.)

A district court denied the state of Illinois' motion to remand to state court a lawsuit concerning three companies' manufacturing and subsequent disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Illinois filed suit in state court, arguing the companies manufactured, marketed, and sold PCBs that led to contamination of the state's waterways and degradation of its wildlife and other natural resources, and seeking damages for dumping, spilling, and releasing of PCBs and other chemicals from a manufacturing plant east of the Mississippi River. The companies removed the suit to federal court under the federal officer removal statute, and Illinois moved to remand to state court for lack of jurisdiction. The court found the companies submitted undisputed evidence that they produced Agent Orange for the federal government at the plant during the Viet Nam War and did so pursuant to government specifications, and concluded that they established a colorable federal defense. It denied the motion to remand.