State of Hawai’i v. BP p.l.c.

The day after the Trump administration <a href="https://climatecasechart.com/case/united-states-v-hawaii/">filed</a> its lawsuit seeking to block the State of Hawai‘i from filing a climate change case against fossil fuel companies, the State of Hawai‘i filed a lawsuit against oil and gas companies and American Petroleum Institute (API) in Hawai‘i Circuit Court alleging that Hawai‘i had suffered climate change harms as a result of the defendants’ “decades-long campaign of deception” regarding the climate impacts of fossil fuel products. The State alleged that the defendants had known for more than 60 years that greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel products would have significant adverse impacts on climate and sea levels and had taken steps to protect their own assets from such impacts, but that the defendants publicly concealed and misrepresented the dangers of fossil fuels and climate change and promoted increasing use of fossil fuels. The complaint alleged that the defendants’ actions “contributed substantially to consumer demand for fossil fuels and the consequent building of [carbon dioxide] in the atmosphere that drives climate change change and its physical, environmental, and socioeconomic consequences.” The State alleged that it had spent and would continue to spend “substantial sums” to “fortify infrastructure against sea level rise, extreme precipitation, extreme storms, and coastal and inland flooding” and “to protect its people and infrastructure from increased temperatures, increased fire risk, vector-born illnesses, lost jobs and economic activity, and other climate change hazards.” The State asserted causes of action for negligence, public nuisance, private nuisance, trespass, and civil conspiracy to commit those torts. The complaint also asserted violations of the Hawaiʻi Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices (UDAP) Statute and claimed that the defendants harmed and conspired to harm the State’s public trust resources protected under the Hawai‘i Constitution. In addition, the State asserted claims of strict liability for failure to warn (against the defendant companies) and of civil aiding and abetting the companies’ tortious actions (against API). The State sought compensatory, punitive, and natural resource damages, as well as any other damages permitted by law. Other relief sought by the State included disgorgement of profits; equitable relief, for example by means of a fund to pay for adaptation, mitigation, and resilience measures; civil penalties, damages, treble damages, and injunctive relief under the UDAP Statute; and attorney fees.