Description: Pennsylvania county's lawsuit seeking to hold fossil fuel industry defendants liable for impacts allegedly arising from the defendants' "disinformation campaign" regarding their products' contribution to climate change.
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Bucks County v. BP p.l.c.
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 03/25/2024 Complaint Download Complaint filed. Pennsylvania County Filed Lawsuit Seeking to Hold Fossil Fuel Industry Defendants Liable for Climate Change Impacts. Bucks County, Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit in the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas against fossil fuel companies and American Petroleum Institute alleging that the defendants had engaged in a “disinformation campaign to discredit the scientific consensus on climate” despite having known since at least the 1950s that fossil fuels’ production of greenhouse gas emissions could have “catastrophic consequences for the planet and its people.” The County alleged that while undertaking this campaign, the defendants took actions to protect their own investments from climate change impacts. The County further alleged that the defendants’ promotion of fossil fuel use and concealment of fossil fuels’ connection to climate change—which the County described as “straight out of the advertising playbook of Big Tobacco”— “delay[ed] meaningful development of alternative energy sources and exacerbate[ed] the costs of adapting to and mitigating the adverse impacts of the climate crisis, including the climate crisis in Bucks County.” The County alleged that the adverse impacts included more frequent and intense storms, flooding, storm surge, rising waters in the tidal Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, saltwater intrusion, droughts, and extreme heat events. The County said it had incurred and would continue to incur substantial costs for actions to adapt to climate change, including for new and upgraded infrastructure to withstand the impacts, increased maintenance and emergency operations, and provision of services such as cooling centers. The County asserted causes of action for strict products liability—failure to warn, negligent products liability—failure to warn, negligence, public nuisance, private nuisance, trespass, and civil conspiracy. The relief sought by the County included compensatory and punitive damages, equitable relief, disgorgement of profits, costs including attorney fees, and pre-judgment interest.