Commissioner of the Department of Licensing & Consumer Affairs v. PepsiCo, Inc.

On May 19, 2025, the PepsiCo defendants removed the case to federal court, arguing that federal jurisdiction existed because USVI’s claims “necessarily involve substantial questions of federal law” because they incorporate and rely on the federal consent decrees concerning the two landfills and collaterally attack court orders approving the consent decrees. Alternatively, the defendants contended that if the federal court determined that only the public nuisance claim arose under federal law, the other two claims were within the court’s supplemental jurisdiction.