City of Chicago v. BP p.l.c.

The City of Chicago filed a complaint in Illinois Circuit Court alleging that fossil fuel industry defendants engaged in a “successful climate deception campaign” since at least 1965 that misled consumers and the public about the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels, which “had the purpose and effect of inflating and sustaining the market for fossil fuels, which—in turn—drove up greenhouse gas emissions, accelerated global warming, and brought about devastating climate change impacts to the City of Chicago.” The complaint alleged that Chicago and its residents have spent and will continue to spend substantial sums to recover from these impacts and to protect the City from future impacts, which include more frequent and intense storms, flooding, droughts, extreme heat events, and shoreline erosion. Chicago alleged that in the absence of the defendants’ “tortious and deceptive conduct and resultant contributions to global warming,” harmful climate change effects would have been “far less extreme” and “future harmful effects would also have been far less detrimental—or would have been avoided entirely.” The complaint alleged that quantification of greenhouse gas pollution attributable to fossil fuel companies’ products allows calculation of climatic and environmental response to emissions that can be attributed to fossil fuel defendants on an individual and aggregate basis. The complaint set forth 11 causes of action: strict products liability—failure to warn; negligent products liability—failure to warn; negligence; public nuisance; private nuisance; nuisance violations of the Municipal Code of Chicago (MCC); civil conspiracy; unjust enrichment; consumer fraud—misleading, unfair, and deceptive practices in violation of the MCC (Chicago Consumer Protection Law); misrepresentations in connection with sale or advertisement of merchandise in violation of the MCC (Sale or Advertisement of Merchandise Act); and recovery of city costs of providing services in violation of the MCC (Cost Recovery Ordinance). The plaintiffs request compensatory damages; equitable relief, including abatement of the nuisances; penalties and recovery for injury or loss under the Chicago Consumer Protection Law and other MCC provisions; disgorgement of profits; costs; and pre-judgment interest.

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The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals denied fossil fuel industry appellants’ motion to stay execution of a district court order remanding the City of Chicago’s climate change case against them to state court.