8th Circuit Prevents Aluminum Worker from Suing Employer to Avoid Federal Jurisdiction

ST. LOUIS — The 8th Circuit Court has stopped a former aluminum worker from withdrawing his personal injury suit so he can re-file in state court, saying that any claims against an in-state employer to defeat federal court jurisdiction would be “’fraudulent’ in the procedural sense.”

The Circuit Court panel reversed a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri March 6 that would have granted George A. Donner’s motion to voluntarily dismiss his case against Alcoa Inc., an aluminum supplier he blames for his lung illness.

Donner contends that he contracted pulmonary fibrosis after 27 …