Texans for Lawsuit Reform

Through political action, legal, academic and market research, and grassroots initiatives, TLR fights for common-sense reforms that keep Texas open for business.

  • About TLR
    • Our Mission
    • Our Team
    • Timeline of Reforms
  • Videos
  • Issues
  • Resource Center
    • Special Reports
    • In the News
    • Press Releases
    • The Advocate
    • TLR Blog: For the Record
  • Get Involved
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
    • Invite a TLR Speaker
  • Donate
  • Stay Informed
In the News

Judge Boots The Global Warming Cases Of San Francisco And Oakland Against Oil Companies

Legal Newsline, June 25, 2018

By: John O’Brien

A California federal judge has rejected the efforts of municipal officials who teamed with private lawyers to seek to hold the energy industry liable for the alleged future effects of climate change.

In a 16-page order released Monday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup granted the motions to dismiss from the five targeted companies – Chevron, Exxon, ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch Shell and British Petroleum.

The plaintiffs in the consolidated cases – the cities of San Francisco and Oakland – and their private lawyers face significant legal hurdles in their attempt to use the common law claim of “public nuisance” to force the companies to pay for infrastructure that would combat rising sea levels.

Critics of the cases – which have also been filed by other California governments, New York City, three Colorado governments and King County, WA – said it was improper to ask a court to force liability on companies that are in compliance with federal regulations.

“The problem deserves a solution on a more vast scale than can be supplied by a district judge or jury in a public nuisance case,” wrote Alsup, the first judge in any of the cases to issue a ruling on dismissal arguments.

“While it remains true that our federal courts have authority to fashion common law remedies for claims based on global warming, courts must also respect and defer to the other co-equal branches of government when the problem at hand clearly deserves a solution best addressed by those branches.”

Another blow to private lawyers hoping to earn a percentage of the recovery could be coming in the case filed by New York City, where a federal judge seemed less than impressed by the plaintiff’s arguments during a recent dismissal hearing.

Alsup’s order accepted arguments that were also pushed by the Trump administration and 15 Republican state attorneys general. They said forcing judicial intervention would upset the regulatory scheme created by the Clean Air Act and carried out by federal and state governments.

Among those AGs signing their names to a pair of amicus briefs was Colorado’s Cynthia Coffman, who opposed the case filed by the city and county of Boulder and San Miguel County.

“Although the scope of plaintiffs’ claims is determined by federal law, there are sound reasons why regulation of the worldwide problem of global warming should be determined by our political branches, not by the judiciary,” Alsup wrote.

Alsup’s order followed a May hearing and his decision earlier this year to keep the cases in federal court. They were originally filed in state court before defendants removed them to federal.

Alsup noted that he felt the plaintiffs’ claims were governed by federal law, but that federal law should not be used to create the relief requested.

Having also conducted a sort-of seminar on climate change science, he decided global warming is real.

“But those dangers are worldwide. Their causes are worldwide. The benefits of fossil fuels are worldwide,” he wrote.

For the moment, San Francisco’s and Oakland’s lawsuits join other similar causes that fell short.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit by Connecticut and seven other states against American Electric Power in 2011, ruling in AEP v. Connecticut that global warming “is an undertaking for the political branches.”

California’s lawsuit against GM and five other automakers came to an end in 2007 when a federal court said it couldn’t deliver a remedy to global warming caused by vehicle emissions without first making an inherently political decision about whether it is reasonable to allow gasoline-fueled automobiles on the road at all.

And the residents of Kivalina in Alaska also lost in 2009 when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled the Clean Air Act preempted their lawsuit.

The public nuisance claim has found some success, however, in a lawsuit against the former makers of lead paint. Several companies sued by California cities are facing a bill of $400 million to $700 million after the state Supreme Court earlier this year refused to review an appeals court decision.

Elsewhere in California, this latest trend of litigation has resulted in the City of Richmond suing its largest employer, Chevron.

The same private lawyers who won the lead paint case are representing cities in the latest round of global warming cases, including Cohen Milstein and Hagens Berman. Hagens Berman partner Matthew Pawa is considered an architect of the public nuisance theory, having argued the Kivalina case and promoted judicial solutions to global warming for years.

Another prong of Exxon’s defense continues in Texas, where a Fort Worth judge has signed off on findings of fact that state the California plaintiffs are making claims that are inconsistent with previous bond offerings, simultaneously predicting climate change doom while telling possible investors that they can’t know for sure.

Follow us on Facebook

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons

Texans for Lawsuit Reform

7 hours ago

Texans for Lawsuit Reform

When 30-year-old Quinnton Allen violated his parole for possession of a firearm, a Houston judge not only allowed him to stay on parole but granted him a PR bond for a felony. Unfortunately, the decision to release him on bond may have cost a man’s life. Read and share: bit.ly/3OvDU5z ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

29-year-old man murdered after judge grants felony PR bond to armed robber recently paroled from prison

bit.ly

HOUSTON – “I’ve never had any of these defendants we’ve profiled on Breaking Bond on parole and on a felony PR bond charged with murder,” said Andy Kahan with Crime Stoppers. “This is a fi...
View on Facebook
·Share

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linked InShare by Email

  • Likes: 0
  • Shares: 1
  • Comments: 3

Comment on Facebook

That judge should be held accountable

His family should get a good lawyer & sue the city & the judge…

The judge should be held as an accomplice to the murder before the fact and sued in civil court for his contribution to the death of the citizen.

Texans for Lawsuit Reform

1 day ago

Texans for Lawsuit Reform

Texas ports are thriving today, but in the early 2000s, abusive personal injury lawsuits threatened to shut them down. As the Port of Houston begins a long-awaited expansion, read more about the common-sense lawsuit reform in 2007 that saved our state’s shipping industry in this week’s TLR blog, For the Record: bit.ly/3aeTy6n ... See MoreSee Less

Learn More

Play
View on Facebook
·Share

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linked InShare by Email

  • Likes: 5
  • Shares: 2
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

Texans for Lawsuit Reform

2 days ago

Texans for Lawsuit Reform

Wishing everyone a very happy Fourth of July! ... See MoreSee Less

Wishing everyone a very happy Fourth of July!
View on Facebook
·Share

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linked InShare by Email

  • Likes: 5
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 1

Comment on Facebook

Happy Independence Day America Today we celebrate our Republic 🇺🇸


Follow us on Twitter

lawsuitreform avatarTLR@lawsuitreform·
1h 1544803550676615169

Join us in pursuing our mission of creating a fair, balanced, and predictable legal system! #lawsuitreform #stoplawsuitabuse

Get Involved

Texans for Lawsuit Reform has thousands of supporters from across Texas who are committed to a fair and balanced civil justice system.

bit.ly

Reply on Twitter 1544803550676615169Retweet on Twitter 15448035506766151691Like on Twitter 15448035506766151692Twitter 1544803550676615169
lawsuitreform avatarTLR@lawsuitreform·
7h 1544713193846603777

When 30-year-old Quinnton Allen violated his parole for possession of a firearm, a Houston judge not only allowed him to stay on parole but granted him a PR bond for a felony. The decision to release him on bond may have cost a man’s life. Read & RT:

29-year-old man murdered after judge grants felony PR bond to armed robber recently paroled from prison

HOUSTON – “I’ve never had any of these defendants we’ve profiled on Breaking Bond on parole and on a felony PR bond charged with m...

bit.ly

Reply on Twitter 1544713193846603777Retweet on Twitter 1544713193846603777Like on Twitter 1544713193846603777Twitter 1544713193846603777
lawsuitreform avatarTLR@lawsuitreform·
5 Jul 1544441042120089600

Sign up for the TLR Weekly News Roundup to receive a daily digest of headlines & news stories about #lawsuitreform from Texas & around the country!

Sign up for the TLR Weekly News Roundup!

Please use the form below to receive a daily digest of TLR Clips - headlines and news stories about lawsuit reform from Texas and around the country.

bit.ly

Reply on Twitter 1544441042120089600Retweet on Twitter 1544441042120089600Like on Twitter 15444410421200896001Twitter 1544441042120089600

Texans for Lawsuit Reform
1701 Brun Street
Houston, Texas 77019

Ph. 713-963-9363
  • About TLR
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Timeline of Reforms
  • Videos
  • Issues
  • Resource Center
  • For the Record
  • Special Reports
  • In the News
  • Press Releases
  • Invite a TLR Speaker
  • Get Involved
  • Invite a TLR Speaker
  • Donate
  • Stay Informed
  • Contact TLR

Copyright © 2022 · Texans for Lawsuit Reform. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2022 · Texans for Lawsuit Reform.
All rights reserved.
Privacy Policy