Big Oil Loses Bid to Rehear California Cities’ Climate Cases (1)

Federal judges won’t revisit a court decision that revived California cities’ efforts to sue the oil and gas industry for harms related to climate change.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday rejected industry lawyers’ requests for rehearing after a three-judge panel in May ordered a district court to take another look at a pair of previously dismissed climate cases from San Francisco and Oakland.

The court’s refusal to revisit the decisions is a blow to Exxon Mobil Corp., BP Plc, and others that have worked for years to spike the cases. The lawsuits, ...