PLEA Network

28 March 2018, E&E News, Here’s the strategy behind cities’ lawsuits against Big Oil. Lawsuits seeking to make oil companies pay for climate-related damages in California could go forward in both state and federal courts, after judges issued split decisions on where the cases belong. That could give cities and counties behind the claims multiple chances to win. Oil companies need to prevent even one loss to avoid a powerful precedent, legal experts said. “You have a bunch of different judges. If one of them holds the defendants liable even if [others] don’t, that is a huge victory for plaintiffs seeking to establish the defendants are responsible for the harms,” said Ann Carlson, co-director of UCLA School of Law’s Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. Eight California cities and counties have sued multiple oil companies in separate cases, arguing that combustion of fossil fuels contributes to sea-level rise and other costly impacts. The oil companies petitioned to move the cases to federal court, arguing there were federal issues. That happened automatically. Cities and counties sought to return the cases to state court. Two federal judges — located two floors apart at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco — reached different conclusions. Judge William Alsup said late last month that climate change is a global problem, making federal law more appropriate. He kept lawsuits filed by San Francisco and Oakland in his court, against Chevron Corp., BP PLC, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC. Read More here