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CITY OF ST. LOUIS, et al., Plaintiffs, v. AMERICAN TOBACCO COMPANY, INC., et al., Defendants 

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

WEBBER, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court upon plaintiffs' Motion to Remand [Document # 23].

I. STATEMENT OF RELEVANT FACTS.

On November 16, 1998, the plaintiffs filed a petition against defendants in the Twenty-Second Judicial Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis, State of Missouri, Cause No. 982-9656, styled City of St. Louis, et al. v. American Tobacco Company, Inc., et al. (hereinafter referred to as the "state action"). The plaintiffs in the action include one municipality and a number of hospitals and medical care entities. The defendants are cigarette manufacturers, distributors, and other similar entities. 1011*1011 In this action, plaintiffs allege that defendants, through conduct including, but not limited to, the manufacture, advertising, sale and promotion of tobacco products in the state of Missouri, have caused damage the plaintiffs. Plaintiffs also allege that other defendants, through conduct including, but not limited to, the sale, distribution, promotion and advertising of tobacco products in Missouri, have damaged the plaintiffs. This latter group of defendants (hereinafter referred to as the "Distributor Defendants"), are all citizens of the State of Missouri. Plaintiffs allege that they have suffered damage, because the defendants fraudulently and falsely promoted, advertised, and sold highly addictive tobacco products that cause lung cancer, throat cancer, emphysema, heart disease, and other diseases. Plaintiffs claim that in discharging their governmental public benefit functions, they were required to provide unreimbursed healthcare to Medicaid and medically indigent patients for these tobacco related illnesses caused by defendants' addictive tobacco products. For this reason, plaintiffs bring a variety of claims to recover these damages from the defendants, including a claim in Count VII for public nuisance, in Counts VIII and IX for products liability based upon strict liability, in Count X for products liability based upon negligence, and in Count XI a cause of action based upon the Restatement of Restitution § 115.

On December 17, 1998, defendants removed the plaintiffs' action to this Court, alleging that this Court has diversity jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332. Defendants allege that diversity of jurisdiction exists in this case, because plaintiffs have fraudulently joined the Distributor Defendants in this cause of action for the purpose of insuring state court jurisdiction. On January 29, 1999, plaintiffs filed the instant motion to remand this action to the Missouri court system, contending that this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction, because they have established their causes of action against the Distributor Defendants. . . .

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiffs' Motion to Remand [Document # 23] is GRANTED.

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