A month after the Ninth Circuit reversed a district court’s determination that federal-question jurisdiction provided a basis for the removal of Oakland and San Francisco’s climate change nuisance lawsuits against oil and gas companies, Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California submitted a letter to the Ninth Circuit “to correct a mistake” in the Ninth Circuit’s opinion. Judge Alsup said a footnote in which the Ninth Circuit “declined to address the extent to which the complaints’ dependence on the navigable waters of the United States afforded removal jurisdiction” incorrectly indicated that his decision relied on admiralty jurisdiction as a basis for removal, a grounds not identified by the companies in their removal notices. Judge Alsup said this footnote “confused federal-question jurisdiction arising out of the navigable waters of the United States with admiralty jurisdiction.” Judge Alsup’s letter asserted that navigable waters “serve as a bedrock of federal common law and federal-question jurisdiction” and requested that the Ninth Circuit withdraw the footnote and address “the merits of the ground on which removal jurisdiction was actually sustained.”

Public nuisance actions brought by City of Oakland and City of San Francisco against fossil fuel companies.

City of Oakland v. BP p.l.c.

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District Court Asked Ninth Circuit to Delete Footnote in Opinion Reversing Determination on Removal Jurisdiction

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