On May 1, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit overturned sanctions imposed by the district court on a manufacturer for having removed a group of products-liability suits from state court to federal court. The decision was a victory for WLF, which filed a brief opposing the sanctions. The victory was far less sweeping than WLF had hoped for, however. The appeals court held that the sanctions should be overturned on mootness grounds because the plaintiffs (who initially had requested imposition of sanctions) later disclaimed any interest in collecting the monetary award granted by the district court. Because of its finding of mootness, the appeals court did not reach the issue raised by WLF in its brief: that the case was properly removed based on “diversity of citizenship” because “nondiverse” parties added to the suit by the plaintiffs were not proper parties. WLF argued that the Constitution’s Due Process Clause barred out-of-state plaintiffs from filing suit.