The Rhode Island Superior Court granted the State of Rhode Island’s motion to conduct jurisdictional discovery in the State’s lawsuit seeking to hold fossil fuel companies liable for climate change’s impacts on Rhode Island’s infrastructure and coastal communities. The companies have moved to dismiss the case for lack of personal jurisdiction on the grounds that they have insufficient contacts with the State. The companies also contend that there are no facts in dispute as to jurisdiction. The court noted that jurisdictional discovery should not be allowed when allegations of minimum contacts, even if true, would not be sufficient but found that in this case there was a sufficient alleged connection between the companies’ activities and Rhode Island’s injuries. The court was not persuaded that limited jurisdictional discovery would be burdensome to the defendants. The court described Rhode Island as “similarly situated” to small countries in other parts of the world that had presented at the most recent United Nations climate conference “that oil companies have benefitted billions in corporate profits at the expense of [small countries’] climate-related disasters that have caused severe destruction.” The court said attendees at the climate conference “were left with a similar question this Court might ultimately have to oversee: who pays for the damage and loss this State has had to incur from climate change effects?” The court stated that it saw “no compelling argument that would prevent Plaintiff from engaging in limited jurisdictional discovery, which, if fruitful, could help address the very question those small nations … faced.” The court limited discovery to the following issues: (1) defendants’ fossil-fuel business activity in Rhode Island during the times set forth in Rhode Island’s complaint; (2) defendants’ marketing and promotion of fossil-fuel products to Rhode Island consumers during the same time period; and (3) defendants’ historical knowledge of climate change impacts in the State of Rhode Island during that time period.

State of Rhode Island lawsuit seeking to hold fossil fuel companies liable for causing climate change impacts that adversely affect Rhode Island and jeopardize State-owned or -operated facilities, real property, and other assets.

Rhode Island v. Chevron Corp.

<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>

Rhode Island Trial Court Allowed Jurisdictional Discovery in State’s Climate Case Against Fossil Fuel Companies

Filed

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

Hot temperature extremes are daily maximum temperatures  that were exceeded on average once in a decade or once in 50 years, and includes heatwaves.

Risks to the ecosystem health of the marine environment, including ocean warming, ocean acidification, and ocean deoxygenation, harming biodiversity, species health, ecosystem services, and coastal community livelihoods.

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

A drought is an extended period of unusually dry weather marked by a significant and sustained lack of precipitation, falling below a specific threshold over a large area for more than a month

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.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

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

Activities involving the catching, processing, and selling of fish for food, recreation, and industry.

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.

Heavy precipitation refers to any form of weather where substances fall from the sky, including rain, snow, sleet, or hail.

Rhode Island Trial Court Allowed Jurisdictional Discovery in State’s Climate Case Against Fossil Fuel Companies

Risk

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector