Establishing federal jurisdiction over state-law claims through the Grable doctrine is rare, but a Missouri federal court recently reminded us that it is not impossible.

In Bader Farms Inc. v. Monsanto Co., No. 1:16-CV-299 SNLJ, 2017 WL 633815 (E.D. Mo. Feb. 16, 2017), the court found that, even though federal jurisdiction did not appear on the face of the complaint, it existed under Grable because the plaintiffs’ state-law claims required examination of the actual practices of and regulations guiding a federal agency, thus raising a significant federal issue. Companies subject to federal regulation may find this case useful when seeking to invoke removal jurisdiction.

Originally published in Law360 on May 10, 2017.