News & Analysis
April 24, 2023
In a major victory for communities fighting to hold Big Oil companies accountable for their climate lies, the U.S. Supreme Court today denied fossil fuel industry requests to review lower court rulings in favor of communities across the U.S. that are seeking to put oil majors on trial in state court to make them pay for climate damages they knowingly caused. The high court’s action clears the way for dozens of other state and local governments across the country to advance similar accountability lawsuits against polluters toward trial in state courts.
Oil giants have spent years fighting to avoid trials over their climate lies in state courts, only to have their efforts rejected again and again by 20 appellate court judges, 13 district court judges, and the Department of Justice. The Supreme Court’s refusal to entertain Big Oil’s pleas for relief is a major defeat for oil giants that have spent decades concealing the harm of their products from the public and evading accountability for their climate destruction.
BREAKING �� In a major victory for climate accountability, dozens of climate lawsuits across the U.S. can advance toward trial after the Supreme Court today declined to hear Big Oil’s desperate pleas to escape justice in state courts. https://t.co/z8PcDbV7AD pic.twitter.com/FSQKf5JbPU
— Center for Climate Integrity (@climatecosts) April 24, 2023
Since 2017, the attorneys general of Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the District of Columbia, as well as municipal governments in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, and Washington, have filed lawsuits in state court to hold major oil and gas companies accountable for deceiving the public about their products’ role in climate change. In every single ruling to date, federal judges have rejected Big Oil’s arguments to stop these cases from advancing in state court. Two cases — from Honolulu and Massachusetts — are already in pretrial discovery, with others close behind.
Fossil fuel companies and industry allies had urged the high court to review rulings against the industry in lawsuits brought by communities in Colorado, Rhode Island, Maryland, Hawaii, and California. Today the Supreme Court denied those petitions.
“Big Oil companies have been desperate to avoid trials in state courts, where they will be forced to defend their climate lies in front of a jury, and today the Supreme Court declined to bail them out,” CCI’s Richard Wiles said. “Now it’s time for these polluters to face the evidence of their deception in court.”
