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Landmark US climate lawsuit proceeds

against fossil fuel companies

US NORTHEAST IN a landmark lawsuit, a federal appeals court and even international issues.
has heard a case in which the coastal City of Bal- The Baltimore suit may be the first to settle
timore is suing about a dozen major oil and gas this narrow – and key – jurisdictional issue,
companies including BP, ExxonMobil and Shell. and thus the precedent would likely guide other
The city claims that the companies knowingly cases especially in the same federal appeals
contributed to climate change, misleading the court circuit. As Patrick Parenteau, a professor
public, and should therefore pay major mone- of law at Vermont Law School, told Reuters: “Its The suit is the
tary damages. decision will have some influence on the later
The City of Baltimore and other ocean- courts.” frontrunner of
side cities are more susceptible to rising waters The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Vir-
because of climate change. Unusually severe heat ginia, which borders Maryland where Baltimore dozens of similar
waves also appear to be becoming endemic. is located, heard the case on January 25. The
The suit is the frontrunner of dozens of sim- three-judge panel has yet to rule. The case had cases in the
ilar cases in the courts that take the same tack gone to the US Supreme Court, which decided courts that take
against fossil fuel companies – and the upshot that the jurisdictional issue should be heard in a
could generally influence the speed of the roll- federal appeals court. the same tack
out of renewable energy. None of the cases have proceeded to the point
Baltimore – on the East Coast – and other where judges or juries have heard substantive against fossil fuel
cities such as New York and Honolulu, as well arguments, notes National Public Radio (NPR).
as counties and even states, have brought similar Baltimore is asking state courts to weigh in on companies.
suits against some of the world’s largest oil and what Karen Sokol, a law professor at Loyola Uni-
gas companies. versity New Orleans, told NPR is a “long-stand-
They are seeking to keep their cases in state ing, systematic deceptive marketing campaign
court, where they were originally filed and which designed to hide the catastrophic dangers,” of
tend to be more friendly to plaintiffs than fed- fossil fuels. She said that cases about consumer
eral court. In contrast, London-based BP and protection, including landmark lawsuits involv-
the other defendants claim federal court is the ing alleged corporate misinformation cam-
correct jurisdiction for the regulation of energy paigns by tobacco companies, have historically
and for climate change, which tend to be national been tried in state court, reported NPR.™

Week 04 27•January•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P13