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Fifth Circuit Knocks Out Climate Change Liability Lawsuit Again

Res judicata is one of those phrases learned in law school that seemed of limited utility. How often is someone going to bring the same claim twice?...more

The Third Climate Change Liability Suit Fights to Stay Alive: Plaintiffs in Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Seek Rehearing

The plaintiffs in the climate change liability suit, Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil, won’t go quietly. Last Thursday, Plaintiffs filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals a petition for rehearing en banc...more

Ninth Circuit Affirms District Court in Kivalina Climate-Change Case

On Friday, September 21, 2012, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an important opinion in the developing area of climate-change litigation, affirming the dismissal of a lawsuit that threatened the energy sector with...more

McAfee & Taft RegLINC: Supreme Court prohibits federal common law nuisance suits seeking limits on carbon dioxide emissions By...

By a vote of 8 – 0, the United States Supreme Court recently ruled that congressional delegation of authority to EPA to regulate pollutants under the Clean Air Act (“Act”) speaks directly to regulation of carbon dioxide...more

Supreme Court Decides Global Warming Case

In the third of our trilogy this week, let's take a look at the Supreme Court's decision in American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut, No. 10-174 (U.S. 6/20/11). Readers may recall from our previous posts that in 2004,...more

Supreme Court Rejects States’ Nuisance Claims But Leaves Door Open to Future Climate Change Lawsuits

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in American Electric Power v. Connecticut that federal common law nuisance claims cannot be used to address harms arising from climate change. In 2004, eight states, New York City, and...more

U.S. Supreme Court Tosses Federal Nuisance Claims in Climate Change Lawsuits

The U.S. Supreme Court threaded the needle in its 8-0 decision in AEP v. Connecticut. The Court unanimously ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency's greenhouse gas rulemaking under authority of the Clean Air Act has...more

U.S. Supreme Court Takes Another Run At Climate Change

Tuesday, April 19, will be a watershed day for climate change litigation as the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral argument in American Electric Power v. Connecticut. At stake is whether states and private parties should be...more

American Electric Power Co., et al., v. Connecticut, et al.

Brief Amicus Curiae of CATO Institute In Support of Petitioners

As Congress debates cap-and-trade, new fuel standards, and subsidies for "green" companies, some still feel that political solutions to global warming are not moving fast enough. In the present case, eight states and New York...more

Supreme Court To Decide Fate Of Global Warming Litigation In American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut

On December 6, 2010, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut, a federal nuisance case on appeal from the Second Circuit. Plaintiffs -- eight states, the City of New York and three...more

Supreme Court to Hear Appeal of Connecticut v. American Electric Power

The Supreme Court of the United States has granted certiorari in the Second Circuit's Connecticut v. American Electric Power decision, which allowed federal common law nuisance claims to proceed against several utilities...more

American Electric Power Co., et al., v. Connecticut, et al.

Brief For The CATO Institute As Amicus Curiae Supporting Petitioners

At a time when the international community is holding climate change conferences and Congress debates on cap-and-trade, new fuel standards, and subsidies for "green" companies, some still feel that political solutions to...more

Comer, et al., v. Murphy Oil USA, et al.

En Banc Brief of Amicus Curiae The CATO Institute In Support of Defendants-Appellees

Mississippi homeowners sued 34 energy companies and utilities operating in the Gulf Coast for damage sustained to their property during Hurricane Katrina. The homeowners alleged that the defendants had emitted greenhouse...more