Certain state attorneys general have made headlines lately by banding together to file joint lawsuits over consumer or environmental issues. Less well known is that a pro-manufacturers coalition has also formed to file amicus briefs opposing recent climate change lawsuits.

Rallied together by the Manufacturers' Accountability Project, an undertaking by the legal arm of the National Association of Manufacturers, these state attorneys general also have appeared in roundtables hosted by the project.

Linda Kelly, senior vice president and general counsel of the manufacturers' association, told Corporate Counsel, “We have played a primary role in educating the state attorneys general about the lawsuits and the weaknesses in the cause of actions. From the start we saw them as potential allies because of the potential economic impact on manufacturing in their states.”

Kelly said her group also strategized with members of the coalition who attended the March 5 meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General in Washington, D.C. “We took the opportunity of them being in town to have discussions with some of them,” she said. “But we did not play a formal role in the meeting itself.”

Kelly said the coalition understands that climate change issues shouldn't be adjudicated in the courts, but dealt with by the legislative and executive branches of government. So far judges have agreed with that view.

She also said the public nuisance cause of action cited in the suits is “extremely broad. If a court determines that marketing and selling your product can be determined to be a public nuisance many years in the future, then that is a very negative signal to send manufacturers about operating in that state.”

Kelly noted the amicus briefs have raised an interesting point about the lawsuits targeting oil companies, even though it is often the cities, counties and states themselves that are burning the oil to power their entities. If the manufacturers could be sued, then so could the government entities, the coalition argued.

In the most recent example of joint filing, 15 state attorneys general opposed New York City's climate change lawsuit against major oil companies, which is pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The suit was dismissed last July by U.S. District Judge John Keenan of the Southern District of New York. The defendants are Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell and BP.

Counsel on the appellate brief were Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill Jr., along with that state's solicitor general, Thomas Fisher, and deputy solicitor general, Kian Hudson. The 14 state attorneys general joining in represented Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.

The Indiana Attorney General's Office did not immediately respond to messages about this story.

Indiana also represented the coalition in filing an amicus brief against climate change lawsuits brought by Oakland and San Francisco. Those suits were later dismissed by U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California. The cities have appealed the verdict to the Ninth Circuit and amicus briefs are due in two weeks.

Kelly said her manufacturers' group would be filing an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit in that case.