The federal district court for the District of Hawaii denied an insurer’s motion for entry of judgment on the court’s February 2025 ruling that the insurer had a duty to defendant plaintiff Aloha Petroleum, Ltd. (Aloha) in underlying climate change-related lawsuits brought by the City and County of Honolulu and the County of Maui. Aloha and the insurer conferred after that ruling but were unable to resolve “significant disputes regarding the nature and scope” of the duty to defend. In denying the request for entry of judgment, the court found that there were still matters to resolve regarding the duty to defend claims, including the insurer’s obligation for fees incurred by Aloha’s parent company and the reasonableness of hourly rates. The court also could not conclude that there was “no just reason for delay.”

Fossil fuel company's lawsuit against insurer for breaching its obligations to defend and indemnify the company in underlying climate change cases brought by Honolulu and Maui.

Aloha Petroleum Ltd. v. National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh

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Hawaii Federal Court Declined to Enter Judgment Allowing Insurer to Appeal Duty to Defend Ruling for Local Government Climate Cases

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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

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

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.

Any substance with chemical properties that can cause physical harm to people or damage the environment, including ammonia, carbon monoxide, phosphine, chlorine, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, pesticides, dioxins, microplastics, benzene, asbestos, aflatoxins, fluoride, methanol, and toxins from marine sources.

Hawaii Federal Court Declined to Enter Judgment Allowing Insurer to Appeal Duty to Defend Ruling for Local Government Climate Cases

Risk

Fossil fuel

Finance