News & Analysis
May 26, 2020
In a major victory in the fight to hold Big Oil accountable for lying about climate and leaving communities to pay the damage, a federal appeals court today ruled that lawsuits filed against the industry by a group of California cities and counties could proceed in state court.
In two separate rulings, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied requests from Big Oil defendants — including Chevron, Exxon, BP, ConocoPhillips, and Shell — to have cases filed by San Mateo County and other municipalities moved from state to federal court. The three-judge panel also ruled that lawsuits brought by San Francisco and Oakland, which were previously dismissed by a federal district court, should be sent back to the lower court for reconsideration.
The California municipalities argue that the companies are responsible for exposing their communities to an onslaught of threats from climate change, including sea-level rise, flooding, wildfires, heatwaves, and extreme weather events caused by fossil fuel products and a decades-long denial and disinformation campaign to deceive the public about the harms associated with their products.
The cases were originally filed in state court, where many similar cases against the tobacco and opioid industries were heard and decided.
“The last thing Big Oil wants is a trial where the truth about their decades of lying about climate change would be laid bare,” said Richard Wiles, CCI's executive director. “These decisions get these communities one step closer to that day.”
Earlier this year, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a similar lawsuit brought by the City of Baltimore should proceed in state court.
Photo by Mike Schweizer on flickr.
