High Court Ruling on Jurisdiction Thaws Some Climate Cases (1)

The U.S. Supreme Court’s resolution of a Ford Motor Co. product liability case clears a hurdle for a group of idled climate lawsuits.

The high court on Thursday sided with plaintiffs in a jurisdictional dispute over state courts’ ability to decide cases involving out-of-state defendants with certain in-state ties. The justices ruled that Montana and Minnesota courts had jurisdiction over local vehicle crash lawsuits even though the vehicles involved were sold elsewhere.

Lawsuits targeting oil companies for their role in climate change have been on pause for months in Maryland, Rhode Island, and Washington state pending the outcome of Ford ...