The panel reversed the district court’s order remanding to state court an action brought by a class of individual plaintiffs who alleged they were injured while working at the Clark County Government Center because they were exposed to toxic waste dumped at the site.

Plaintiffs originally brought this case in Nevada state court alleging that some of the waste dumped at the site contained polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and that the former Monsanto Company (Old Monsanto) manufactured more than 99 percent of all PCBs sold in the United States. Old Monsanto’s corporate successors—Pharmacia LLC, Solutia Inc., and Monsanto Co—removed this case to federal court under the Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”). The district court granted plaintiffs’ motion to remand this case to state court, holding that this case falls within CAFA’s “local controversy exception.”

The panel held that CAFA’s local controversy exception does not apply because plaintiffs cannot satisfy the “principal injuries” element of the exception, which directs the federal court to decline to exercise jurisdiction if, among other requirements, the “principal injuries resulting from the alleged conduct or any related conduct of each defendant were incurred in the State in which the action was originally filed.” 28 U.S.C. § 1332(d)(4)(A)(i)(III). Here, the principal injuries of Old Monsanto’s alleged conduct were not incurred in Nevada. Plaintiffs made no allegations suggesting that the injuries from PCBs in Nevada were more significant than those in other States. Accordingly, the panel reversed the district court’s order remanding the case to state court.

https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2025/12/29/25-6625.pdf