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Federal Judge Dismisses California Global Warming Lawsuit Against Automakers
18 September 2007
US Federal District Court (Northern District of California) Judge Martin Jenkins dismissed the State of California’s lawsuit against automakers for damaging the state with greenhouse gas emissions.
California filed the lawsuit last September, seeking damages against various automakers for creating, and contributing to, a public nuisance: global warming. (Earlier post.) The lawsuit was the first of its kind to seek to hold manufacturers liable for the damages caused by greenhouse gases that their products emit.
In dismissing the suit, Judge Jenkins ruled that the issue was a political matter, rather than a justiciable one.
By themselves, the CAA and EPCA do not directly address the issue of global warming and carbon dioxide emission standards. However, when read in conjunction with the prevalence of international and national debate, and the resulting policy actions and inactions, the Court finds that injecting itself into the global warming thicket at this juncture would require an initial policy determination of the type reserved for the political branches of government. A judicial determination of monetary damages for Plaintiff’s global warming nuisance tort would improperly place this Court into precisely the geopolitical debate more properly assigned to the coordinate branches and would potentially undermine the political branches’ strategic choices by “weaken[ing] US efforts to persuade key developing countries to reduce the [greenhouse gas] intensity of their economies.
Plaintiff has failed to provide the Court with sufficient explanation or legal support as to how this Court could impose damages against the Defendant automakers without unreasonably encroaching into the global warming issues currently under consideration by the political branches. Because a comprehensive global warming solution must be achieved by a broad array of domestic and international measures that are yet undefined, it would be premature and inappropriate for this Court to wade into this type of policy-making determination before the elected branches have done so.
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September 18, 2007 in Brief | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)
Comments
Posted by: Kit P | September 18, 2007 at 07:56 AM
Another frivolous lawsuit dismissed. Thank goodness for common sense!
I find it funny having lived in California, the land of the "green extreme," for a short while now. I have never seen so many monster trucks, luxury SUVs, Hummers, Escalades, Navigators, Titans, Sequoias, etc (many with 22" or larger wheels) as I have seen on the roads here in SOCAL.
I wonder how many of these SOCAL drivers had their oversized gas guzzling ego-wagons "forced" on them by the automakers?
Hey California, next time how about suing your own constituents for making such environmentally irresponsible vehicle choices. If their individual pockets aren't deep enough- try a class action suit against all drivers of over-sized vehicles.
Posted by: DieselHybrid | September 18, 2007 at 08:45 AM
So much California angst! California doesn't enforce anything outside its borders. Other states don't have to follow California GHG regulations. Not everyone in California drives an SUV. Get over it.
Posted by: marcus | September 18, 2007 at 10:10 AM
Keep fighting! Time for another plan!
Posted by: Elliot | September 18, 2007 at 12:04 PM
If California is serious about GHGs then it would have instituted fossil fuel rationing.
Posted by: tom deplume | September 18, 2007 at 12:19 PM
You gotto wonder... If the US Attorneys General successfully sued the tobacco industry for producing a product that caused egregious harm to the health of millions of Americans - shouldn't California have sued the ... OIL companies?
Unless there's a very high profile spill - it's hands off big oil - reaping 400% profits, drilling the Arctic Refuge, !! "securing" Middle East resources, etc.
Automakers allowed themselves to get monopolized by a single source fuel industry. They are complicit but not the implicit defendant. The same pattern will repeat with electric utilities if resource diversity is not an integral part of our energy future.
This lawsuit is deceptive BS and deserved the dismissal.
Posted by: gr | September 18, 2007 at 03:18 PM
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Wow, legal common sense. California could pass legislation and the governor could enact it resulting a immediate 50% reduction in ghg. Of course this action would result in an immediate recall. People in California want there energy and are not too picky about the environmental impact.
For a short period of time we has neighbors from Southern California. Seeing my ice scraper, they wondered what is was for. After the first snow, they wanted to how I could drive a 2WD in the snow and the mountains. Easy, it is the same as 4WD; carefully.
All California needs is a law banning 4WD unless there is a snow emergency.
California has a wonderful mild climate that has resulted in a population devoid of any energy common sense. That is there business until they want to dictate to the rest of the world standards suitable for a mild climate.