Layla H. v. Commonwealth

The Virginia Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of youth plaintiffs’ lawsuit against the Commonwealth of Virginia and Virginia agencies and officials in which the plaintiffs alleged that the defendants’ permitting of fossil fuel infrastructure caused and contributed to the climate crisis and caused injuries to the plaintiffs, in violation of the plaintiffs’ jus publicum (i.e., public trust doctrine) rights and their substantive due process rights under the Virginia Constitution. Although the appellate court held that sovereign immunity did not bar the plaintiffs’ substantive due process claims because immunity is waived for self-executing provisions of the Virginia Constitution, the appellate court concluded that the plaintiffs failed to establish standing. First, the appellate court found that the plaintiffs did not establish “the necessary particularized injury” but instead presented “general policy disagreements” that fell within the legislature’s purview. Second, the appellate court found that “there is simply no basis to the claim that the Commonwealth’s policies of approving permits for certain facilities … are responsible for the heat rash, tick bites, reduced shellfish stocks, diminished access to places of recreation, and other injuries” alleged by the plaintiffs. Third, the appellate court found that courts were not capable of requiring the “global policy changes” needed to redress the alleged injuries. The court also found that the trial court correctly dismissed the jus publicum claims as barred by sovereign immunity.