Mayor & City Council of Baltimore v. BP p.l.c.

A Maryland Circuit Court granted fossil fuel companies’ motion to dismiss the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore’s claims seeking to hold the companies liable for climate change-related injuries resulting from the companies’ alleged “sophisticated campaign of deception to misrepresent and conceal their products’ risks.” Aligning itself with the reasoning of decisions that held that New York City’s and Delaware’s claims against fossil fuel companies were preempted or largely preempted, the Maryland court rejected Baltimore’s contention that its lawsuit did not seek to regulate or impose liability for greenhouse gas emissions. The court found “that Baltimore’s complaint is entirely about addressing the injuries of global climate change and seeking damages for such alleged injuries” and that Baltimore’s explanation “that it only seeks to address and hold Defendants accountable for a deceptive misinformation campaign is simply a way to get in the back door what they cannot get in the front door.” The Maryland court concluded that federal common law applied because the case involved global emissions, that the Clean Air Act displaced federal common law related to domestic emissions, and that the Clean Air Act preempted Baltimore’s state law claims based on domestic emissions. The Maryland court further concluded that state law could not provide a remedy for claims arising from foreign emissions. The court distinguished the Fourth Circuit’s decision that the companies’ preemption defense did not create federal jurisdiction over Baltimore’s claims, citing “the heightened standard unique to the removability inquiry.” Although the Maryland court dismissed Baltimore’s claims on preemption grounds, the court also concluded—“to make the record complete”—that Baltimore failed to state claims of public and private nuisance, failure to warn, design defect, and trespass. The court also ruled that Baltimore’s Maryland Consumer Protection Act claim was time-barred.

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