U.S. Judge Rejects JBS Claim of Virus Death Case Jurisdiction

A Philadelphia federal judge sent a coronavirus-related wrongful death case filed against meatpacker JBS SA back to state court.

U.S. District Judge John R. Padova, said the world’s largest beef processor failed to meet the legal burden of establishing removal jurisdiction based on federal question or diversity. His ruling, issued Jan. 29, memorialized a bench ruling he’d made 10 days earlier.

The latest ruling echoes other federal courts’ rejections of corporate arguments that the meat packers’ cases belong in federal court because they implicate federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidance.

The ...