"Feds affirm that landmark climate case should stay in local courts", 16 Mar 2023

In a key development for climate accountability lawsuits around the U.S., the Office of the Solicitor General recommended today that the Supreme Court reject Exxon Mobil and Suncor’s petition for certiorari and allow the City of Boulder and Boulder County’s case against the fossil fuel companies to proceed in Colorado state court.

In June 2022, the companies sought Supreme Court review on two questions – whether federal common law actually governed the municipalities’ state law tort claims and whether federal courts thus have exclusive jurisdiction over the case – after the Tenth Circuit decided that the case belonged in state court...The Supreme Court will now decide whether to follow the Solicitor General’s recommendation and allow the Tenth Circuit’s decision to stand or grant certiorari and hear the case...

“Since the Colorado communities filed this case in 2018, Exxon Mobil and Suncor have consistently sought to delay the litigation—moving the case from court to court and losing each step along the way. Today’s development brings these communities one step closer to holding fossil fuel companies accountable for their misconduct and obtaining remedies for the serious climate harms Colorado residents are facing...

... The Solicitor General’s office correctly concluded that this case presents state-law claims, which state courts regularly hear and decide without issue, and that this litigation thus belongs in state court.” [said EarthRights General Counsel]...