MD Supreme Court Tosses Dem Attempt To Hold Oil Companies Accountable for Climate Events

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The Supreme Court of Maryland dismissed three lawsuits from Democratic-led jurisdictions that sought to hold oil and gas companies accountable for climate change, striking a blow to a coordinated legal effort to force energy producers to pay billions of dollars in weather-related damages nationwide.

The 3-2 decision, written by Justice Brynja Booth, determined the lawsuits brought by the City of Baltimore, Anne Arundel County, and the City of Annapolis improperly sought to use state law to "regulate air emissions beyond their jurisdictional boundaries." Baltimore, Anne Arundel, and Annapolis argued that the defendants, more than two dozen oil companies, including BP, Chevron, and ExxonMobil, violated nuisance laws by selling products that generated carbon emissions and, in turn, led to costly weather events harming their residents.

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