Climate Change Litigation

Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Federal Common Law Climate Change Claims

On September 21, 2012, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a decision of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dismissing the federal common law nuisance and civil conspiracy damage claims of the Native Village of Kivalina and the City of Kivalina against a group of U.S. oil, energy, and utility companies ("Energy Producers"). The plaintiffs, located on a coastal Alaskan island, alleged that the greenhouse gas emissions of the Energy Producers have contributed to climate change, which in turn severely eroded the land where Kivalina sits and threatens it with imminent destruction and other global warming-related impacts.

The court found that since the Clean Air Act provides for the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, the federal common law doctrines have been displaced and the claims failed. Kivalina v. Exxon Mobil Corp., ___ F.3d___, 2012 WL 4215921 (9th Cir. Sept...