It looks like they didn’t want to argue in front of a federal court, just a friendly state court. Or, perhaps they were expecting the fossil fuels companies to simply pay up out of court?
Major ‘climate deception’ lawsuit against Big Oil voluntarily dismissed
A major years-long lawsuit alleging that Big Oil companies have waged a disinformation campaign about the impacts of climate change was voluntarily dismissed by plaintiffs in a victory for the U.S. energy industry.
The California-based Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA), the largest trade association of commercial fishermen on the West Coast, requested the dismissal in a filing with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The request came after Judge Vince Chhabria ruled on Nov. 1 that the case could be heard in federal court despite PCFFA’s argument for it to be tried in state court.
“Climate change is a global challenge that requires a coordinated international policy response, not a jumble of baseless local lawsuits,” said Bill Turenne, a spokesperson for U.S. oil company Chevron, one of several companies named as defendants in the case. “As the Second Circuit Court of Appeals put it when affirming dismissal of a similar case, ‘such a sprawling case is simply beyond the limits of state law.’”
PCFFA’s lawsuit dates back to November 2018 and was among the first “climate deception” cases filed nationwide. The lawsuit — which names Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP America, Shell and ConocoPhillips, among several other oil companies as defendants — sought to hold the industry accountable for its alleged “decades-long campaigns of deception about the science of climate change and the role their products play in causing it.”
And how much in the way of fossil fuels did all the fishing boats use? Engines, lubrication, motors for the nets, transportation to get the fish to market? You know they aren’t using sailboats. How much fossil fuel to make each of the boats?
These are all just shakedowns from groups and lawyers who themselves refuse to give up their own use of fossil fuels. If they really believed in their cause and had the facts they’d be able to argue and win at any level court.
Looks like they are court shopping. Nothing stopping them from bringing the suit again and hoping for a different judge assigned later.
Are you its not because they were told, “if you don’t drop the case we’ll stop selling fuel to you”?
Can’t have all those pesky facts coming out in discovery, now can we?