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Katrina Victims Seek to Sue Greenhouse Gas Emitters
WASHINGTON - Victims of Hurricane Katrina are seeking to sue carbon gas-emitting multinationals for helping fuel global warming and boosting the devastating 2005 storm, legal documents showed.
Residents search for survivors a day after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in August 2005. Victims of Hurricane Katrina are seeking to sue carbon gas-emitting multinationals for helping fuel global warming and boosting the devastating 2005 storm, legal documents showed Wednesday. (AFP)
The class action suit brought by residents from southern Mississippi, which was ravaged by hurricane-force winds and driving rains, was first filed just weeks after the August 2005 storm hit.
"The plaintiffs allege that defendants' operation of energy, fossil fuels, and chemical industries in the United States caused the emission of greenhouse gasses that contributed to global warming," say the documents seen by AFP.
The increase in global surface air and water temperatures "in turn caused a rise in sea levels and added to the ferocity of Hurricane Katrina, which combined to destroy the plaintiffs' private property, as well as public property useful to them."
More than 1,200 people died in Hurricane Katrina, which lashed the area, swamping New Orleans in Louisiana when levees gave way under the weight of the waves.
The suit, claiming compensation and punitive damages from multinational companies including Shell, ExxonMobile, BP and Chevron, has already passed several key legal hurdles, after initially being knocked back by the lowest court.
Three federal appeals court judges decided in October 2009 that the case could be heard. But in February the same court decided to re-examine whether it could be heard this time with nine judges.
Other companies named in the suit include Honeywell and American Electric Power, with the residents charging that "the defendants' greenhouse gas emissions caused saltwater, debris, sediment, hazardous substances, and other materials to enter, remain on, and damage plaintiffs' property."
They allege that companies had a duty to "avoid unreasonably endangering the environment, public health, public and private property."
The district court, which initially rejected the case, ruled that it was "a debate which simply has no place in the court."
The court argued that Congress first had to enact legislation "which sets appropriate standards by which this court can measure conduct."
Mississippi residents must now wait for the appeals court to fix a new hearing, in principle within the next three months.
A decision would then be due by the end of 2010, and both sides could also then take the case to the Supreme Court.
10 Comments so far
Show AllGood luck, Folks, but the odds are out of the Universe of this having any affect on the multi-nationals. This is David & Goliath and David has no slingshot or hope.
Even dragging these devils' sorry tails into court is a victory of sorts.
When these Goliaths make a decision about human life, they consult a spreadsheet to see what it will cost shareholders in dollars and possibly cents.
All the money that siphons out to their legal department is money that does not go to stockholders. If that happens often enough, someone adjusts the figure for "Value of a Human Life."
Why do some Afghan families get $2,000 for a slaughtered child? That is a measure of the value of marginal cooperation to US government and the vulture corporations.
From a corporate POV, people in Louisiana are only worth what they can purchase or what the can take out of the corporate hide. But that difference amounted to some $70,000 per person as of the mid-1980's, at least for some companies.
That may have changed, but the results are a far cry from $2,000.
You gotta hand it to the lawyers. They try to make a buck out of everything...
Good luck proving Katrina was caused by "climate change due to CO2 emissions from fossil fuels".
"Good luck proving Katrina was caused by "climate change due to CO2 emissions from fossil fuels".'
The only chance is to prove its intensity was enhanced by global warming. But then, the class being sued should also include the public itself, which is why I think the lawsuit assinine.
Would that we could all join this class action lawsuit. We've all been impacted by polluters in one way or another.
I admire the Katrina victims for their endeavors. Yet the recent actions of the reactionary Roberts Supreme Court, who just ruled in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission that corporations can donate unlimited funds to influence elections, don't bode well for the plaintiffs, whose lives were ravished during Katrina.
After all corporations are people too. At least they are if you believe the lunatic judges who interpret the laws on the highest court in the land.
Is there no depth to which lawyers will not sink? -- so long as someone is paying their bills. This is totally, absolutely, and utterly futile.
They might do better to sue George Bush for not maintaining the levees.
You would have a better chance suing the Air Force and their HAARP project than you will oil companies.
http://willthomasonline.net/willthomasonline/Steering_Katrina_Continued.html
Dig into this technology, bring it in to the court room and blow the lid off the whole covert operation.
Too big to fail, too big to die, too big to obey any laws.
Where do real people fit into this?
We managed to nail the Tobacco companies to the wall in the end. I am hopeful that we can do the same with the mega polluters. Some of these companies have been spending millions in attempts to confuse the debate and more millions lobbying to delay the efforts to alleviate the problem. Every person on the planet has been negatively impacted by the way these companies have chosen to do business and therefor we all could be party to class action lawsuits on the matter of global warming. I have been trying to interest people in pursuing this for years now and I am very glad it has begun.