California Climate Cases Against Big Oil Go Before Judges (1)

Industry and local government lawyers squared off in another high-stakes climate case Wednesday, arguing over whether California cities and counties can wage their legal fight against the oil and gas industry in state court.

The crux of the debate before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is whether lawsuits from San Francisco, Oakland, San Mateo County, and others raise sweeping claims that are beyond state courts’ jurisdiction, or raise quintessential local arguments that belong at that level.

“Those sorts of interstate claims, state law can’t apply,” industry lawyer Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher ...