Comer v. Murphy Oil USA, Inc.

A federal district court in Mississippi held that the doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel barred claims for trespass, nuisance, and negligence against oil, coal, electric, and chemical companies for damages stemming from Hurricane Katrina. The court held that the lawsuit was nearly identical to the individuals’ 2005 lawsuit. The court also found that the plaintiffs lacked standing because their claims were not fairly traceable to the companies’ conduct, that the lawsuit presented a non-justiciable political question, that all of the claims were preempted by the Clean Air Act, that the claims were barred by the applicable statute of limitations, and that the plaintiffs could not demonstrate that their injuries were proximately caused by the companies’ conduct.

Plaintiffs refiled their climate change tort action alleging public and private nuisance, trespass, and negligence causes of action under Mississippi law.