Jane Doe v. Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, 23-55500

Plaintiffs Jane Doe and Kelly Davis, on behalf of all California residents who visited Hoag’s website, filed state-law claims in California state court challenging Hoag’s use of Meta Pixel, a data-tracking tool provided by Meta (Facebook).
Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian removed both cases to federal court, citing the federal officer removal statute (28 U.S.C. § 1442(a)(1)).
Plaintiffs moved to remand, and the district court granted both motions, sending the cases back to state court.
Hoag argued its website activities were done under federal direction as part of compliance with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Meaningful Use Program.
The Ninth Circuit consolidated the appeals and reviewed the district courts’ remand orders de novo.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Hoag acted under a federal officer for purposes of removal under § 1442(a)(1)	Hoag was not acting under a federal officer	Hoag’s website was created under federal health program directives	Hoag was not acting under a federal officer; removal not proper

Durham v. Lockheed Martin Corp., 445 F.3d 1247 (9th Cir. 2006) (sets forth requirements for federal officer removal, including 'acting under' standard)
Koerner v. Grigas, 328 F.3d 1039 (9th Cir. 2003) (Ninth Circuit panels are bound by prior circuit precedent)