United States Second Circuit

In multidistrict litigation involving seven of sixteen cases where plaintiffs alleged violations of state law by chemical companies who contracted with the Government to produce Agent Orange for military use in the Vietnam War, denial of plaintiffs' motions to remand the actions to state court is affirmed as the district court has jurisdiction over these actions under the federal officer removal statute, 28 U.S.C. section 1442(a)(1).

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/22/2008
• Published 02/22/2008

Judges

• SACK, Circuit Judge:, Before:  MINER, SACK, and HALL, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Second Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• James Boanerges, Cooper, Sprague, Jackson & Boanerges, P.C., Houston, TX;  Mark I. Bronson, Newman, Bronson & Wallis, St. Louis, Missouri;  Gerson H. Smoger, Smoger & Associates, Oakland, CA;  Mark R. Cuker, Williams Cuker Berezofsky, Philadelphia, PA, for Plaintiffs-Appellants., Christopher E. Buckey, Shanley, Sweeney, Reilly, & Allen, P.C., Albany, NY;  David E. Cherry, Campbell, Cherry, Harrison, Davis & Dove, P.C., Waco, TX;  John H. Pucheu, Pucheu, Pucheu & Robertson, L.L.P., Eunice, LA;  Bernard F. Duhon, Abbeville, LA;  Robert B. Evans, III, Burgos, Evans & Wilson LLC, Metairie, LA;  Nira T. Kersmich, Rochester, NY;  Jeffrey D. Guerriero, Guerriero & Guerriero, Monroe, LA;  Morris E. Cohen, Brooklyn, NY;  James Russell Tucker, Dallas, TX (on the briefs), for Plaintiffs-Appellants., William A. Rossbach (Timothy M. Bechtel, of counsel), Rossbach, Hart, Bechtel, P.C., Missoula, MT;  P.B. Onderdonk, Jr., National Judge Advocate, The American Legion, Indianapolis, IN, for Amicus Curiae Veterans and Military Service Organizations., Ian Heath Gershengorn (Lise T. Spacapan and Fazal R. Khan, on the brief), Jenner & Block LLP, Washington DC, for Amicus Curiae American Chemistry Council and Chlorine Chemistry Council., Raphael Metzger, Metzger Law Group, Long Beach, CA, for Amicus Curiae Drs. Brian G. Durie, Devra Davis, Peter L. deFur, Alan Lockwood, David Ozonoff, Arnold J. Schecter, David Wallinga, Carl F. Cranor, The Council for Education and Research on Toxic, and the Lymphoma Foundation of America.


• For Appellees:
  
• Andrew L. Frey, Charles A. Rothfeld (Lauren R. Goldman, Christopher J. Houpt, of counsel), Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP, New York, NY, for Defendants-Appellees., John C. Sabetta, Andrew T. Hahn, Sr., Seyfarth Shaw LLP, New York, NY;  Seth P. Waxman, Paul R.Q. Wolfson, Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale & Dorr, Washington, DC;  Richard P. Bress, Latham & Watkins, Washington, DC;  Michael M. Gordon, King & Spaulding LLP, New York, NY;  William A. Krohley, William C. Heck, Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, New York, NY;  James L. Stengel, Laurie Strauch Weiss, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, New York, NY;  Steven Brock, James V. Aiosa, Richard S. Feldman, Rivkin Radler LLP, Uniondale, NY;  Lawrence D'Aloise, Jr., Clark, Gagliardi & Miller, White Plains, NY;  Myron Kalish, New York, N.Y. (on the brief), for Defendants-Appellees.