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Accountability for climate deception

In July 2017, the California Counties of San Mateo, and Marin, along with the City of Imperial Beach, filed the first climate deception lawsuits against major members of the fossil fuel industry. Three more California communities followed suit a few months later. Today, public entities representing more than one out of every four Americans have filed lawsuits to hold members of the fossil fuel industry accountable for deceiving and failing to warn consumers, greenwashing, violating antitrust laws, and more.

Sher Edling is proud to represent the communities that are prosecuting these cases. Some other firsts in Sher Edling’s representation on climate-related matters include:

  • State of Rhode Island v. Chevron Corp. et al., No. PC-2018-4716: The first state to file a climate deception case. Today Sher Edling also represents California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Michigan, as well as the District of Columbia.
  • Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe v. Exxon Mobil Corporation et al., No. 23-2-25215-2 SEA & Makah Indian Tribe v. Exxon Mobil Corporation et al., No. 23-2-25216-1 SEA: The first climate deception cases filed by federally recognized Indian tribes.
  • State of Michigan v. BP et al.: The first state to file an antitrust lawsuit against fossil fuel companies. Alleging violations of the federal Sherman Act and the Michigan Antitrust Reform Act, Michigan’s complaint alleges defendants “conspired with each other to forestall meaningful competition from renewable energy and maintain their dominance in the energy market. They have done so as a cartel.”
  • City and County of Honolulu v. Sunoco LP et al., No. 1CCV-20-0000380: The first case in the country to prevail against defendants’ motions to dismiss tort-based claims, with the Supreme Court of Hawai‘i affirming, and declaring that “This suit does not seek to regulate emissions and does not seek damages for interstate emissions. Rather, Plaintiffs’ complaint ‘clearly seeks to challenge the promotion and sale of fossil-fuel products without warning and abetted by a sophisticated disinformation campaign.’”
  • Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Exxon Mobil Corp., No. 1984-CV-03333-BLS1: Massachusetts’ consumer and investor fraud case against ExxonMobil was the first case to reach discovery and is currently scheduled to be the first case to go to trial, expected in 2028.

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