Due to the loss of a quorum because of recusal of an additional judge, the Fifth Circuit dismissed the en banc review of a climate change tort lawsuit in which Mississippi property owners alleged that a group of energy and other companies should be held liable for some of the hurricane damage to their properties. The action means that the district court’s dismissal of the lawsuit stands. In February 2010, the Fifth Circuit granted en banc review to a 2009 decision by the Circuit that held that plaintiffs could proceed, and vacated the 2009 decision. However, in the May 2010 decision the court held that it could not give the lawsuit en banc review because it no longer had a quorum to do so, but it left standing the order vacating the panel decision. The court said the plaintiffs could seek review from the U.S. Supreme Court. Three judges vigorously dissented.

Action seeking damages related to Hurricane Katrina under tort law theories.


Comer v. Murphy Oil USA, Inc.

<p>This entry was provided by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

Comer v. Murphy Oil USA, Inc. - order

Filed

United States of America

Mississippi

The Climate Litigation Database

Find climate change litigation data and indicators for {text}.

{text} litigation

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides Climate Litigation Database, a comprehensive database of US and Global climate change caselaw

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Search the Climate Litigation Database

An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

Coal is a combustible sedimentary rock formed from carbonised plant matter, rich in carbon and hydrocarbons, and occurring in several main types including hard coal and brown coal.

Activities of government agencies and institutions that provide public services, enforce laws and manage public resources.

Comer v. Murphy Oil USA, Inc. - order

Fossil fuel

Economic sector