Torts Commons^™

Big Oil Liability In Canada: Lessons From The Us And The Netherlands, David W-L Wu

Dalhousie Law Journal

The number of nuisance and negligence tort claims in the US against “Big Oil” companies have grown significantly in the last five years. The Netherlands case of Milieudefensie et al v Royal Dutch Shell represents the first major success of such a claim internationally. While the US cases and Milieudefensie demonstrate starkly different approaches as to how to seek accountability from Big Oil for climate change harms, the increasing judicial engagement on these issues may mean the time is right for similar lawsuits in Canada. Three Canadian common law causes of action are examined: nuisance, negligence, and unjust enrichment. Defences …

Climate Discrimination, Duane Rudolph

Catholic University Law Review

This Article focuses on the coming legal plight of workers in the United States, who will likely face discrimination as they search for work outside their home states. The Article takes for granted that climate change will have forced those workers across state and international boundaries, a reality dramatically witnessed in the United States during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. During that environmental emergency (and the devastation it wrought), workers were forced across boundaries only to be violently discriminated against upon arrival in their new domiciles. Such discrimination is likely to recur, and it will threaten the livelihoods of …

State Public Nuisance Claims And Climate Change Adaptation, Albert C. Lin, Michael Burger

Pace Environmental Law Review

This Article explores the potential for state public nuisance claims to facilitate adaptation, resource protection, and other climate change responses by coastal communities in California. The California public nuisance actions represent just the latest chapter in efforts to spur responses to climate change and attribute responsibility for climate change through the common law. Part II of this Article describes the California public nuisance lawsuits and situates them in the context of common law actions directed against climate change. Part III considers the preliminary defenses that defendants have raised and could raise in the California public nuisance lawsuits, including the existence …

Could Official Climate Denial Revive The Common Law As A Regulatory Backstop?, Mark P. Nevitt, Robert Percival

All Faculty Scholarship

The Trump Administration is rapidly turning the clock back on climate policy and environmental regulation. Despite overwhelming, peer-reviewed scientific evidence, administration officials eager to promote greater use of fossil fuels are disregarding climate science. This Article argues that this massive and historic deregulation may spawn yet another wave of legal innovation as litigants, including states and their political subdivisions, return to the common law to protect the health of the planet. Prior to the emergence of the major federal environmental laws in the 1970s, the common law of nuisance gave rise to the earliest environmental decisions in U.S. history. In …

Too Many Cooks In The Climate Change Kitchen: The Case For An Administrative Remedy For Damages Caused By Increased Greenhouse Gas Concentrations, Benjamin Reese

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Recent federal and state court decisions have made clear that federal common law claims against emitters of greenhouse gases are not sustainable; however, those same courts seem to have given state common law tort claims the green light, at least if the claims are brought in the state where the polluters are located. This Note contends that such suits are not an adequate remedy for those injured by climate change because they will face nearly insurmountable barriers in state court, and because there are major policy-level drawbacks to relying on state tort law rather than a federal solution. This Note …

A Blanket Of Immunity Will Not Keep Florida Dry: Proposed Adjustments To Florida's Drainage Regulations And Sovereign Immunity Laws To Account For Climate Change Impacts, Theresa K. Bowley

Florida A & M University Law Review

Addressing stormwater drainage in Florida has been an ongoing challenge since the middle of the twentieth century when the State began to experience rapid growth. Drainage problems already occur in Florida during seasonal high tides, heavy rains, and in storm surge events, and the impacts projected by climate change will exacerbate flooding. Identification of deficiencies in Florida’s existing drainage systems should include the responsibility and liability of drainage systems to be retrofitted to adapt to climate change. Part I of this paper explains the connection between global climate change and its effects on stormwater drainage in Florida. The existing governmental …

Acts Of God Or Toxic Torts? Applying Tort Principles To The Problem Of Climate Change, Eduardo M. Peñalver

Eduardo M. Peñalver

The problem of climate change continues to be an intractable one for policymakers. Uncertainties over the likely costs of climate change as well as over the costs of proposed remedies have hampered the formation of a consensus regarding the best course of action. The principles of tort law provide a useful means of analyzing the problem of climate change, particularly the issue of who should bear the costs associated with its effects. The two major goals of tort law (reducing the costs of accidents and corrective justice) both point towards the appropriateness of placing the costs of climate change on …

An Introduction To Climate Change Liability Litigation And A View To The Future, Michael B. Gerrard, Joseph A. Macdougald

Faculty Scholarship

This article discusses the advancement of climate change litigation. It explores two approaches to climate change litigation; the first is to use the federal regulatory apparatus and the second is to use the tort system. The article explores key questions in climate change litigation such as, who is responsible for deciding the appropriate level of harmful emissions? How should courts handle the long tail effects of climate change? What are the proper forums to litigate in? And, what is the role of the federal government in climate change litigation?

The Right Issue, The Wrong Branch: Arguments Against Adjudicating Climate Change Nuisance Claims, Matthew Edwin Miller

Michigan Law Review

Climate change is probably today's greatest global environmental threat, posing dire ecological, economic, and humanitarian consequences. In the absence of a comprehensive regulatory scheme to address the problem, some aggrieved Americans have sought relief from climate-related injuries by suing significant emitters of greenhouse gases under a public nuisance theory. Federal district courts have dismissed four such claims, with each court relying at least in part on the political question doctrine of nonjusticiability. However, one circuit court of appeals has reversed to date, finding that the common law cognizes such claims and that the judiciary is competent and compelled to adjudicate …

Massachusetts V. Epa And The Future Of Environmental Standing In Climate Change Litigation And Beyond, Randall S. Abate

Journal Publications

This Article focuses on the future scope of environmental standing after Massachusetts v. EPA. Injury in fact has been and remains the most controversial component of the environmental standing test within and outside the context of global environmental harms. Part I of this Article discusses the background context of environmental standing for global environmental harms and its corresponding origins in procedural and substantive injury claims in cases involving purely domestic environmental harms. Part II examines the landmark decision in Massachusetts v. EPA and considers how it confirms and extends standing jurisprudence for global environmental harms, yet fails to resolve some …

Automobile Emissions And Climate Change Impacts: Employing Public Nuisance Doctrine As Part Of A "Global Warming Solution" In California, Randall S. Abate

Journal Publications

The battle against climate change and its impacts in the United States must be waged on many fronts and requires many weapons. Until the federal government provides a comprehensive and mandatory legislative response to the climate change problem, gap-filling efforts such as regional, state, and local legislative initiatives and climate change litigation will be essential to achieve some progress in the ongoing challenge to combat the causes and effects of climate change. This Article focuses on one of those gap-filling efforts: public nuisance suits against power companies and automobile manufacturers for the climate change impacts caused by emissions from those …

Currents In Water Resources Law And Policy: How Is “Prior” Coping With New Stresses? [Outline], A. Dan Tarlock, David H. Getches

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

3 pages.

Includes bibliographical references

"A. Dan Tarlock, Distinguished Professor of Law and Director, Program in Environmental and Energy Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law"

"David H. Getches, Dean and Raphael J. Moses Professor of Natural Resources Law, University of Colorado Law School"

Slides: The Future Public Law Of Private Ecosystems, J. B. Ruhl

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

Presenter: J.B. Ruhl, Florida State University Law School

18 slides

Slides: Dam Building And Removal On The Elwha: A Prototype Of Adaptive Mismanagement And A Tribal Opportunity, William H. Rodgers, Jr.

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

Presenter: William H. Rodgers, Jr., Stimson Bullitt Professor of Environmental Law, University of Washington School of Law

77 slides

The Future Of Mineral Development On Federal Lands In The United States, John D. Leshy

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

11 pages.

Includes bibliographical references

"Outline of presentation of John D. Leshy, Harry D. Sunderland Distinguished Professor, U.C. Hastings College of the Law, Natural Resources Law center, June 7, 2007" (pp. 3-5)

"Leshy draft 4.27.07 For Natural Resources Law Center" (pp. 6-13)

Agenda: The Future Of Natural Resources Law And Policy, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

The Natural Resources Law Center's 25th Anniversary Conference and Natural Resources Law Teachers 14th Biennial Institute provided an opportunity for some of the best natural resources lawyers to discuss future trends in the field. The conference focused on the larger, cross-cutting issues affecting natural resources policy. Initial discussions concerned the declining role of scientific resource management due to the increased inclusion of economic-cost benefit analysis and public participation in the decision-making process. The effectiveness of this approach was questioned particularly in the case of non-market goods such as the polar bear. Other participants promoted the importance of public participation and …

Slides: Summary: Sources Of Stress And The Changing Context Of Natural Resources Law And Policy In The New West, William R. Travis

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

Presenter: Dr. William R. Travis, Department of Geography, University of Colorado at Boulder

43 slides

Some Preliminary Thoughts On Contrasts And Convergence In Environmental And Natural Resources Law, Karin P. Sheldon

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

16 pages.

Includes bibliographical references

Federalism And Natural Resources Policy [Outline], Robert L. Fischman

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

2 pages.

"Robert L. Fischman, Indiana University School of Law–Bloomington"

"Outline of Presentation"

Why Care About The Polar Bear?: Economic Analysis Of Natural Resources Law And Policy [Outline], Lisa Heinzerling

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

1 page.

"Lisa Heinzerling, Georgetown Law School" -- Agenda

Acts Of God Or Toxic Torts? Applying Tort Principles To The Problem Of Climate Change, Eduardo M. Peñalver

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The problem of climate change continues to be an intractable one for policymakers. Uncertainties over the likely costs of climate change as well as over the costs of proposed remedies have hampered the formation of a consensus regarding the best course of action. The principles of tort law provide a useful means of analyzing the problem of climate change, particularly the issue of who should bear the costs associated with its effects. The two major goals of tort law (reducing the costs of accidents and corrective justice) both point towards the appropriateness of placing the costs of climate change on …