Eskimo Village Loses Global Warming Suit - FindLaw.com
We have recently seen decisions from the Second Circuit and Fifth Circuit courts reversing district court dismissals of climate change suits. Most observers believed that the once on the ropes Public Nuisance/Climate change actions were once again revived and that we would soon be seeing a tsunami of climate change cases filed in district courts.
Although the circuit court decisions are not binding on most district courts, the reversals were a strong indicator of the jurisprudential climate in the upper level courts. However, in a decision that bucks the trend of the circuit courts, Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong of the Northern District of California has dismissed the Kivilina Climate Change Lawsuit finding that the plaintiffs lack standing under article III because the plaintiffs did not allege facts to show that their injuries were caused by the defendants. The court also found that the suit contained political questions best left to the legislature. One observer commented "[u]nlike the Second Circuit, the court saw major distinctions between ordinary pollution cases and planet wide climate claims, and was not willing to indulge its creativity to invent liability criteria on a planetary scale."
This suit is not completely dead, however; the state law claims were dismissed without prejudice leaving the plaintiffs with the option to refile in state court. In addition an appeal is expected on the federal questions.
clip in hair extensions