Pharmacia Removes PCBs Exposure Suit, Says Defendant Acted under Direction of Federal Officer

ST. LOUIS –– Pharmacia LLC has removed a PCBs exposure lawsuit, maintaining that the claims are subject to federal jurisdiction because the defendant was acting under the direction of a federal office or, alternatively, because they are preempted under the Toxic Substances Control Act.

Pharmacia removed the complaint to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on Dec. 10.

In their lawsuit, originally filed in the St. Louis County Circuit Court, Thomas Kelly and Michael Krzeszewski argued that the developed non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma as a result of exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that were manufactured and sold …