201635P.pdf   10/20/2021  Christopher Graves  v.  3M Company
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  20-1635
                          and No:  20-2545 etc.
   U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota   
   [PUBLISHED] Loken, Author, with Kelly and Erickson, Circuit Judges Civil 
   Case - Federal Jurisdiction. A separate group of employees employed by 
   civilian and military contractors who used the Combat Arms Version 2 
   (CAEv2) earplugs, filed suit in state court asserting failure-to-warn 
   claims against manufacturer 3M. 3M removed the action to federal court, 
   asserting federal officer defenses under 28 U.S.C. sec. 1442(a)(1). 3M 
   appeals the district court's remand orders. 3M failed to establish it was 
   "acting under" a federal officer or agency in developing and disseminating 
   warnings and instructions for its commercial CAEv2 earplugs, and thus 
   remand of the claims of employees who acquired earplugs in the commercial 
   marketplace is affirmed. As for the plaintiffs that worked for defense 
   contractors and received earplugs from the military, 3M made a requisite 
   showing of a colorable federal contractor defense showing that 3M complied 
   with the government's direction to provide earplugs to the military in 
   bulk without instructions, as the military would produce its own 
   instructions. The order remanding the claims brought by those who acquired 
   them through the military is reversed.