United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit ____________ FILED May 28, 2024 No. 23-40197 ____________ Lyle W. Cayce Clerk Sarah Palmquist, Individually and as Next Friend of E.P., a minor; Grant Palmquist,

Plaintiffs—Appellants,

versus The Hain Celestial Group, Incorporated; Whole Foods Market, Incorporated, also known as Whole Foods Market Rocky Mountain/Southwest, L.P.,

Defendants—Appellees. ______________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas USDC No. 3:21-CV-90 ______________________________ Before Stewart, Clement, and Ho, Circuit Judges. Carl E. Stewart, Circuit Judge: In 2021, Grant and Sarah Palmquist, individually and on behalf of their minor son (“Palmquists”), sued baby-food manufacturer, Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (“Hain”), and grocery retailer, Whole Foods Market, Inc. (“Whole Foods”), in Texas state court, seeking damages for their son Ethan’s physical and mental decline that began when he was about thirty months old. Following removal, the district court dismissed Whole Foods as Case: 23-40197 Document: 134-1 Page: 2 Date Filed: 05/28/2024

No. 23-40197

improperly joined and granted judgment as a matter of law in favor of Hain during trial. The Palmquists appeal the district court’s (1) dismissal of Whole Foods on improper joinder grounds, (2) denial of the Palmquists’ motion to remand, and (3) grant of Hain’s motion for judgment as a matter of law. For the reasons that follow, we hold that the Palmquists were entitled to a remand to state court because the allegations in their state-court complaint stated plausible claims against Whole Foods. Thus, we REVERSE the district court’s judgment denying the Palmquists’ motion to remand, VACATE the final judgment of the district court, and REMAND with instructions for the district court to remand the case to the state court. I. Factual and Procedural History A. Factual Background Sarah Palmquist gave birth to Ethan in September 2014 after a healthy and uneventful pregnancy. During the first two years of his life, Ethan met or exceeded developmental milestones The Palmquists allege that during this time, Ethan almost exclusively consumed Hain’s Earth’s Best Organic Products, which the Palmquists purchased from Whole Foods. When he was about thirty months old, Ethan’s “social, language, and behavior[al]” skills rapidly regressed. Ethan’s parents, Grant and Sarah, visited numerous physicians and specialists for a diagnosis and appropriate treatment. They aver that those medical tests revealed that Ethan suffered from several physical and mental disorders. Ethan’s physical ailments include seizure disorder, chronic diarrhea, epileptiform disorder (excessive and abnormal brain activity), hypotonia (abnormally decreased muscle tone), and mitochondrial dysfunction. Ethan’s mental diagnoses range from intellectual disability to anxiety and aggression. Some physicians attributed most, if not all, of Ethan’s symptoms to autism spectrum disorder or major neurocognitive disorder. Some physicians also diagnosed Ethan with heavy-

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