Can Climate ‘Test Cases’ Move Forward? It’s Up to Supreme Court

[Elderberry]

Bloomberg Enviornment    by Ellen M. Gilmer 10/18/2019

•   Oil companies face growing number of nuisance claims from local governments

•   Proceedings could continue in state courts if Supreme Court doesn’t step in

The Supreme Court is set to decide soon whether to greenlight state-court proceedings for several cases in which state and local government officials seek to hold oil companies accountable for their role in climate change.

Industry lawyers have filed three emergency requests that urge the justices to stall cases from Rhode Island, Baltimore, and Colorado municipalities, all part of a pack of state and local governments using public nuisance law against energy companies.

The Supreme Court won’t immediately consider the core legal issues. The justices will look at a procedural element: whether state-court action in the climate cases should advance while federal appeals courts decide whether that’s where they belong.

Still, the Supreme Court’s decision could shape the foundations of the burgeoning area of climate liability law.

If the court declines to step in, oil companies will have to face state-court proceedings and potentially expensive discovery targeting internal documents related to company knowledge of the links between fossil-fuel combustion and climate change.

“These are early test cases,” said Baltimore Solicitor Andre M. Davis, the city’s top litigator. “There are states and cities all over the country watching and studying these developments very closely.”

More: https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/can-climate-test-cases-move-forward-its-up-to-supreme-court