US supreme court denies oil companies’ bid to move venue of climate lawsuits
The US supreme court on Monday declined to hear bids by major oil companies to move a growing wave of climate lawsuits from state courts to federal courts.
The appeals to move the venue of the lawsuits were made by Exxon Mobil Corp, Suncor Energy Inc and Chevron Corp.
The justices turned away five appeals by the oil companies of lower court decisions that determined that the lawsuits belonged in state court, a venue often seen as more favorable to plaintiffs than federal court.
The lawsuits were filed by the state of Rhode Island and municipalities or counties in Maryland, Colorado, California and Hawaii.
Numerous state and local governments have pursued climate-related litigation against oil companies and the eventual rulings in the cases could help determine whether such lawsuits must be waged in federal courts or at the state level.
Monday’s decision by the supreme court was welcomed by climate experts. Dr Delta Merner, lead scientist at the Science Hub for Climate Litigation at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) said: “The supreme court’s decision today is a significant victory for climate justice and climate lawsuits filed across the United States and around the world. The communities involved in this case suffered unimaginable losses due, in large part, to the recklessness and greed of the fossil fuel industry, and now they are one step closer to having their day in court.”
The appeal had marked the first chance for the court to decide whether to revisit an issue that it last addressed in 2021, when the justices gave oil companies a new shot at redirecting climate-related lawsuits brought by state and local governments into federal court.
In that 7-1 ruling, the justices concluded that a federal appeals court had not
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