Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe v. Exxon Mobil Corp.

The Washington Superior Court denied fossil fuel companies’ emergency motion to stay proceedings pending the U.S. Supreme Court’s resolution of Suncor Energy (U.S.A.) Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County. The Superior Court found that a potential stay of more than a year would “greatly prejudice” the Tribes due to the risk of evidentiary loss. The court also found that the defendants did not attempt to show a clear case of hardship or inequity that would outweigh the Tribes’ showing of prejudice. The Superior Court also cited “a significant probability” that the Supreme Court would not reach the issue of whether state law climate deception claims were preempted by federal law.

A Washington Superior Court denied fossil fuel companies’ motions to dismiss state law deceptive marketing-based climate claims asserted by Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe and Makah Indian Tribe. The court adopted the Tribes’ proposed order concluding that federal law did not preempt or preclude the claims; that the claims did not pose non-justiciable political questions; that the claims were timely; and that the Tribes adequately stated claims for public nuisance and for violations of the Washington Products Liability Act.

After the U.S. Supreme Court granted fossil fuel companies' petition for writ of certiorari in Suncor Energy (U.S.A.) Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County to review the Colorado Supreme Court's ruling that federal law did not preempt Boulder's claims, the fossil fuel industry defendants in this case requested that the Washington Superior Court stay a scheduled a hearing on the defendants' motions to dismiss. The court proceeded with the hearing on the defendants’ motions to dismiss the cases on February 27.

On December 20, 2023, two Tribes—the Makah Indian Tribe and the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe—filed separate lawsuits in Washington Superior Court alleging that fossil fuel companies misled consumers and the public about the dangers of climate change. The complaints alleged that this “successful climate deception campaign” inflated and sustained the market for fossil fuels, leading to increased greenhouse gas emissions and “devastating” climate change impacts to the Tribes and their reservations. The Tribes asserted claims under Washington’s public nuisance statute and the Washington Product Liability Act. The Tribes requested that the court order the companies to abate the nuisance, including through the establishment of abatement funds for the Tribes to use to remediate and adapt their reservation lands, natural resources, and infrastructure. The Tribes also requested compensatory damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, and attorneys’ fees and costs.