The federal district court for the Southern District of New York granted New York City’s motion to remand to state court its action against fossil fuel industry defendants under the City’s Consumer Protection Law. The City alleges that the defendants violated the Consumer Protection Law by misleading consumers about their products’ impact on climate and falsely representing that they are “environmentally responsible companies developing innovative green technologies and products.” The court rejected the companies’ six grounds for removal. First, the court ruled that even if federal common law could serve as a basis for the complete preemption exception to the well-pleaded complaint rule in the absence of a federal statute, federal common law could not preempt the City’s “garden-variety false advertising claims,” which the court said did not implicate either federal interests in regulating environmental pollution or the U.S.’s foreign affairs. Second, the court found that the federal officer removal statute did not apply for the same reason that the Second Circuit concluded it did not apply in <a href="https://climatecasechart.com/case/state-v-exxon-mobil-corp/">Connecticut v. Exxon Mobil Corp.</a>: “there is no causal nexus between Defendants’ work for the federal government and Defendants’ allegedly false and misleading advertisements.” Third, the court rejected federal enclave jurisdiction either based on extraction, production, or sale of fossil fuels on federal enclaves (which was not the subject of the complaint) or based on the “ridiculous” theory that the defendants’ allegedly misleading advertisements reach federal enclaves. Fourth, the court found that the defendants did not meet their heavy burden of proving that Exxon Mobil Corporation was fraudulently joined and therefore could not establish diversity jurisdiction. Fifth, the court rejected the contention that the City’s suit could be removed under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA), finding that a Consumer Protection Law cause of action can be brought only by the City and therefore “bears absolutely no similarity to a class action.” Sixth, the court rejected the contention that the City’s claims necessarily implicated First Amendment elements and was removable pursuant to the Grable exception to the well-pleaded complaint rule. The court granted the City’s request for costs and fees regarding five of the six bases for removal: three grounds for removal that the Second Circuit rejected in Connecticut (complete preemption, federal officer, and Grable) and federal enclaves and CAFA, which the court described as “objectively absurd” arguments. The court did not award costs and fees in connection with the defendants’ diversity jurisdiction argument, finding that it was not unreasonable for the defendants to make that argument.

Lawsuit against oil and gas companies and trade group alleging they systematically and intentionally misled consumers about their products' role in causing climate change.

City of New York v. Exxon Mobil Corp.

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New York Federal Court Sent New York City’s Climate Consumer Protection Case Back to State Court

Filed

United States of America

New York

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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.

woman and genders outside of the gender binary

Any compulsory, unrequited payment to the government levied on corporations or individuals. This can be for environmental reasons, such as introducing a Carbon tax to set a price that emitters must pay for the greenhouse gases they emit.

This sector creates and distributes information and entertainment through television, radio, print, and digital platforms.

This sector involves activities that impart knowledge and skills to individuals, including formal schooling, vocational training and educational support.

Slow onset events evolve gradually from incremental changes over many years or from increased frequency or intensity of recurring events. As defined in the Cancun Adaptation Framework (2010), slow onset events include risks and impacts from rising temperatures, desertification, biodiversity loss, land and forest degradation, glacial retreat, ocean acidification, sea level rise, and salinization.

New York Federal Court Sent New York City’s Climate Consumer Protection Case Back to State Court

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Economic sector

Finance