City Of Oakland, v. Bp P.L.C

325 F.Supp. 3d 1017 (2018)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Ds are the five largest investor-owned producers of fossil fuels in the world, as measured by the greenhouse gas emissions allegedly generated from the use of the fossil fuels they have produced. Ds have allegedly long known the threat fossil fuels pose to the global climate. Nonetheless, they continued to extract and produce them in massive amounts while engaging in widespread advertising and communications campaigns meant to promote the sale of fossil fuels. In September 2017, Ps commenced these actions in state court. The original complaints each asserted a single claim for public nuisance under California law. One threshold issue presented by these cases was whether federal common law should govern (rather than state law). Ps' claims for public nuisance depend on a global complex of geophysical cause and effect involving all nations of the planet (and the oceans and atmosphere). It necessarily involves the relationships between the United States and all other nations. It demands to be governed by as universal a rule of apportioning responsibility as is available. Ps' claims, if any, are governed by federal common law. Federal jurisdiction is therefore proper. Ps have since amended their complaints to plead a separate claim for public nuisance under federal common law. Ds now move to dismiss the amended complaints for failure to state a claim.