Description: Lawsuit brought by New Jersey officials against fossil fuel industry defendants seeking damages and other relief in connection with the defendants' alleged substantial role in causing climate change and resulting harms to New Jersey.
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Platkin v. Exxon Mobil Corp.
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 10/16/2023 Motion to Dismiss Download Memorandum of law filed by American Petroleum Institute in support of motion to dismiss. 10/16/2023 Motion to Dismiss Download Brief filed in support of BP p.l.c. and BP America Inc.'s motion to dismiss. 10/16/2023 Motion to Dismiss Download Memorandum of law filed in support of defendants Chevron Corporation and Chevron U.S.A. Inc.'s anti-SLAPP motion to dismiss. 10/16/2023 Motion to Dismiss Download Joint opening brief filed in support of defendants' motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. 10/16/2023 Motion to Dismiss Download Joint opening brief filed in support of certain defendants' motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. 10/16/2023 Motion to Dismiss Download Individual memorandum of law filed in support of Shell defendants' motion to dismiss. 10/16/2023 Motion to Dismiss Download Brief filed by American Petroleum Institute in support of its motion to dismiss the amended complaint under the District of Columbia's anti-SLAPP statute. 10/18/2022 Complaint Download Complaint filed. New Jersey Filed Lawsuit to Hold Fossil Fuel Defendants Liable for Climate Change Impacts. The New Jersey Attorney General, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and the Acting Director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs filed a lawsuit in New Jersey Superior Court alleging that fossil fuel industry defendants engaged in a “successful climate deception” campaign about the consequences of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels, with the “the purpose and effect of inflating and sustaining the market for fossil fuels, which—in turn—drove up greenhouse gas emissions, accelerated global warming, and brought about devast[at]ing climate change impacts to the State of New Jersey and its Overburdened Communities … in particular.” The plaintiffs alleged that the defendants’ actions had resulted in the State paying billions of dollars to respond to and protect people, businesses, infrastructure, and natural resources from climate change hazards, including sea-level rise, disruption to the hydrologic cycle, extreme precipitation events and associated flooding, heat waves, droughts, ocean acidification, degradation of air and water quality, and habitat and species loss. The complaint alleged that climate change impacts would “disproportionately afflict” Overburdened Communities by exacerbating environmental and public health stressors associated with socioeconomic and racial disparities. The complaint asserted failure to warn, negligence, impairment of the public trust, trespass, public nuisance, and private nuisance claims as well as violations of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act for unconscionable commercial practices and deception and misrepresentations and omissions of material facts. The plaintiffs requested compensatory, natural resource, and punitive damages; costs and fees; abatement of the nuisance; abatement of the trespass; civil penalties; and disgorgement of profits. -
Platkin v. Exxon Mobil Corp.
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 06/20/2023 Memorandum Opinion Download Motion to remand granted. Federal Court Granted Remand but Denied Attorneys’ Fees in New Jersey’s Climate Case Against Fossil Fuel Defendants. The federal district court for the District of New Jersey granted the motion by the New Jersey Attorney General, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and the Acting Director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs to remand to state court their lawsuit asserting claims against fossil fuel industry defendants for allegedly misrepresenting their products’ effects on the climate. The court noted that the defendants no longer contested remand due to the U.S. Supreme Court’s denial of petitions for writ of certiorari seeking review of decisions upholding remand orders in other cases. The district court further found that remand was “clearly warranted” in this case because the Third Circuit’s decision affirming remand orders in Hoboken’s and Delaware’s cases “fatally forecloses” each of the defendants’ jurisdictional arguments (complete preemption, Grable jurisdiction, jurisdiction under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, federal officer removal jurisdiction, and federal enclave jurisdiction, although the court noted that the Third Circuit had not addressed the federal enclave jurisdiction argument but that four other circuit courts of appeal had uniformly rejected it). The court denied the plaintiffs’ request for attorneys’ fees incurred as a result of removal, noting that the defendants “consistently and candidly acknowledged” that the Third Circuit’s decision foreclosed their jurisdictional arguments and that they “correctly pointed out” that they would have been precluded from seeking removal had they waited for the Supreme Court to rule on the certiorari petitions. The court found that the defendants “offered colorable reasons to believe that the Supreme Court would at least consider, if not overturn, the existing precedent” and that the plaintiffs offered “little evidence that this brief detour to federal court prejudiced them.” 05/18/2023 Notice Download Corrected notice of supplemental authorities filed by plaintiffs (denial of certiorari in Hoboken case and Eighth Circuit denial of stay of mandate in Minnesota case). 05/03/2023 Memorandum of Law Download Memorandum of law filed by plaintiffs in support of motion to remand to state court. 05/03/2023 Motion Download Motion to remand to state court filed by plaintiffs. 05/03/2023 Opposition Download Brief filed by defendants in opposition to plaintiffs' motion to remand. 05/03/2023 Reply Download Reply memorandum of law filed by plaintiffs in support of motion to remand. 04/27/2023 Notice Download Notice of supplemental authorities filed by plaintiffs (Supreme Court denial of five certiorari petitions). 04/06/2023 Notice Download Notice of supplemental authorities filed by plaintiff (Solicitor General's brief in Boulder case and Eighth Circuit affirmance of remand order). 02/13/2023 Motion Download Motion to stay proceedings filed by defendants. 02/13/2023 Opposition Download Opposition filed by plaintiffs to defendants' motion to stay proceedings. 02/13/2023 Reply Download Reply filed by defendants in support of motion to stay proceedings. 11/22/2022 Notice of Removal Download Notice of removal filed by defendants Chevron Corporation and Chevron U.S.A. Inc.