Climate Change Litigation

From 2004 to 2017, Matt, Ben and Wes devised and litigated the first tort lawsuits on the climate crisis.  They worked closely with a coalition of attorneys general, land trusts and the Natural Resources Defense Council on the first, groundbreaking climate tort case of Connecticut v. American Electric Power Co., which sought to cap and reduce carbon dioxide emissions from some 170 coal fired power plants under the federal common law of public nuisance.  The Second Circuit court of appeals embraced the theory of the case in a historic 170 page opinion; although the U.S. Supreme Court reversed, it did so only because the law had changed during the appeal with the EPA changing its position on whether the Clean Air Act allows regulation of carbon dioxide.  Am. Elec. Power Co. v. Connecticut, 564 U.S. 410 (2011).  After this decision, the focus of climate litigation shifted to state law.  PLG then brought suit for the cities of San Francisco and Oakland under state law for the costs of building sea walls due to the climate crisis, which was the first climate case against oil and gas producers by major U.S. cities.