Watson v. Philip Morris Cos.

Plaintiffs including Watson filed a state-court suit claiming that Philip Morris violated Arkansas unfair business practice laws by advertising certain cigarette brands as "light" when, in fact, Philip Morris had manipulated testing results to register lower levels of tar and nicotine in the advertised cigarettes than would be delivered to consumers. Philip Morris removed the case to federal District Court under the federal-officer removal statute, which permits removal of an action against "any officer (or any person acting under that officer) of the United States or of any agency thereof". This is codified at 28 U.S.C. §1442(a)(1). The federal court upheld the removal, ruling that the complaint attacked Philip Morris' use of the Government's method of testing cigarettes and thus that petitioners had sued Philip Morris for "acting under" the Federal Trade Commission. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, emphasizing the FTC's detailed supervision of the cigarette testing process and likening the case to others in which lower courts permitted removal by heavily supervised Government contractors.^[1]

The Supreme Court issued an opinion on June 11, 2007.^[1]