Many allege that the fossil fuels industry knew about the harms of CO2 emissions from internal studies as early as the 1970s, yet kept this knowledge under wraps. There is ample evidence to support these claims. Some go further, alleging the industry acted in concert to suppress this truth and crush the development of clean energy alternatives. The question then became: what do we do about it? States have responded with a variety of lawsuits testing multiple legal theories. One such suit is People of the State of Michigan v. BP, P.L.C., et al. In this case, the Michigan Attorney General attempted to argue that the actions of oil and gas industry firms amounted to a breach of antitrust law. The court recently issued an Opinion dismissing the climate antitrust case:
“The Court concludes that even if Michigan has adequately pled a conspiracy, the antitrust laws protect against none of the injuries for which Michigan seeks a remedy, except for overcharges for energy. Moreover, the distance is too great between the alleged conspiracy and Michigan’s and its residents’ overcharges to find that the conspiracy proximately caused the overcharges. The Court therefore holds that Michigan lacks antitrust standing to pursue its federal antitrust claims.”
This is bad news for climate plaintiffs. Federal climate antitrust cases could serve as a backstop if the Supreme Court bans state law tort claims. However, if the Michigan case is upheld on appeal, then that approach is unlikely. The court dismissed Michigan’s federal antitrust claims with prejudice, meaning that, failing an appeal, the state cannot bring this case again.
Our members can learn more about ESG litigation here.
