United States Ninth Circuit

In consolidated actions seeking to impose liability on corporate defendant for a deadly explosion involving fireworks that were seized by the federal government and which defendant agreed to store and destroy, brought by families or representatives of people killed by the explosion, the judgments of the district court remanding the four cases to state court is affirmed where: 1) defendant did not demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence the requisite casual nexus between the plaintiffs' claim and direction or control of the project by a federal agency or official; 2) federal officer removal was not warranted because defendant failed to demonstrate that it had a colorable federal defense to the plaintiffs' claims; and 3) defendant, as a non-military contractor, was not able to assert a plausible government contractor defense.

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/13/2015
• Published 08/13/2015

Judges

• Rawlinson

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel