A growing number of cities and states are suing oil majors and other oil industry participants for the damaging impacts of climate change. Rising seas, increasingly severe weather, and the escalating infrastructure costs to adapt have compelled these lawsuits, largely via state common law claims, from across the country.
Recent cases now number in the dozens, meaning this trend is no flash in the pan. Similar to other novel climate change cases, procedural questions of standing and jurisdiction may be the biggest obstacles for these cases to reach trial. One such question — whether state or federal court is the ...