Gibson Dunn's Boutrous Asks 2nd Circuit to Uphold Dismissal of City's Climate Change Suit
Attorneys for New York City maintain that the case is not about emissions at all. Rather, they contended the companies should be held responsible for social costs they knew would result from the production and sale of fossil fuels to consumers.
November 22, 2019 at 02:53 PM
4 minute read
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner Theodore Boutrous Jr. on Friday defended a Manhattan federal judge's decision to dismiss a lawsuit from the city of New York seeking to hold some of the world's largest oil and gas producers financially responsible for their contributions to climate change, saying the case raised important concerns about interstate and international regulations.
Boutrous, arguing on behalf of Chevron Corp., BP PLC, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell, told a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, that that the city's "unprecedented" nuisance and trespass suit was merely an attempt to use New York law to pursue emissions-related claims that were preempted by federal law.
If allowed to proceed, the lawsuit could create a "unprecedented sweeping, interstate, international, worldwide" tort, which would open the door for states to indirectly regulate out-of-state business activity, he said.
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