The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the remand to state court of the State of Minnesota’s climate change lawsuit against fossil fuel industry defendants. In doing so, the court noted that it was joining five of its sister circuits in rejecting arguments for federal jurisdiction in climate change litigation brought by state and local governments. The Eighth Circuit concluded that Minnesota’s case—which asserts state common law fraud claims and violations of Minnesota consumer protection statutes—did not arise under federal law because the exceptions to the well-pleaded complaint rule for complete preemption and cases necessarily raising substantial and disputed federal questions (Grable jurisdiction) did not apply. With respect to complete preemption, the Eighth Circuit held that federal common law on transboundary pollution did not preempt Minnesota’s claim. Regarding Grable jurisdiction, the Eighth Circuit found that the defendants failed to identify elements of Minnesota’s claims that required a court to interpret federal common law or to “second-guess Congress’s cost-benefit rationales in allowing the production and sale of fossil fuels.” The Eighth Circuit also rejected other grounds for federal jurisdiction. First, the court found that requirements for jurisdiction under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) were not met because the alleged “misinformation campaign” was not an “operation” carried out on the Outer Continental Shelf and, in any event, the case did not have the requisite nexus to the defendants’ fossil fuel production on the Outer Continental Shelf. Second, the Eighth Circuit found that the case was not removable under the federal officer removal statute because the connection between Minnesota’s claims and any action under the direction of a federal officer (e.g., military fuel production, operations on the Outer Continental Shelf, and participation in strategic petroleum infrastructure) was too remote. Third, the Eighth Circuit held that the lawsuit was not a removable “class action” under the federal Class Action Fairness Act. One judge wrote a concurrence opining that the case should arise under federal law. The concurrence said Minnesota’s complaint “all but dares the companies to raise a federal-preemption defense” and that “no one doubts that they will or that it will be the focal point of the litigation.” The concurring opinion contended that in such a situation, there was “no reason” for the removal rules to block federal jurisdiction but noted that “only Congress or the Supreme Court gets to make that call.”

Action brought by Minnesota against members of the fossil fuel industry for allegedly causing climate change harms by misleading the public by downplaying the threat of climate change and the role of their products in causing climate change.

Minnesota v. American Petroleum Institute

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Eighth Circuit Rejected Arguments for Federal Jurisdiction in Minnesota’s Climate Case Against Fossil Fuel Defendants

Filed

United States of America

Minnesota

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Eighth Circuit Rejected Arguments for Federal Jurisdiction in Minnesota’s Climate Case Against Fossil Fuel Defendants

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Just transition

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance