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Kanuk v. Alaska

Filing Date: 2011
Case Categories:
  • Public Trust Claims
Principal Laws:
Public Trust Doctrine
Description: Action seeking declaration that State of Alaska had obligation to protect atmosphere as public trust and regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Kanuk v. Alaska
    Docket number(s): S-14776
    Court/Admin Entity: Alaska
    Case Documents:
    Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary
    10/28/2014 Order Petition for rehearing denied.
    09/12/2014 Opinion Download Opinion issued affirming dismissal. The Supreme Court of Alaska affirmed the dismissal of an action brought by six children under the Alaska constitution and the public trust doctrine against the State of Alaska seeking to impose obligations on the State to address climate change. As initial matters, the court concluded that plaintiffs had interest-injury standing to make these claims and that sovereign immunity did not shield the State. The court ruled, however, that three of plaintiffs’ claims for relief that asked the court to set carbon dioxide emissions standards and order the state to take actions to meet the standards were nonjusticiable political questions because they required “a science- and policy-based inquiry” better left to the executive or legislative branches of government. While four other claims sought justiciable relief—namely a declaratory judgment interpreting the state constitution to impose a duty on the State to protect the atmosphere—these claims did not present an actual controversy. The court indicated that a declaration of the scope of the public trust doctrine would neither compel the State to take any particular action nor advance the plaintiffs’ interests. The court therefore dismissed these claims on “prudential grounds.”
  • Kanuk v. Alaska
    Docket number(s): 3AN-11-07474CI
    Court/Admin Entity: Alaska Super. Ct.
    Case Documents:
    Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary
    03/16/2012 Order Download Order issued granting motion to dismiss.
    07/21/2011 Complaint Download Amended complaint filed.

© 2023 · Sabin Center for Climate Change Law · U.S. Litigation Chart made in collaboration with Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP

The materials on this website are intended to provide a general summary of the law and do not constitute legal advice. You should consult with counsel to determine applicable legal requirements in a specific fact situation.