First Wrongful Death Climate Case Against Big Oil Wins Major Rulings, Moves Toward Trial

The first-ever U.S. lawsuit seeking to hold Big Oil companies accountable for the death of a family member in a climate disaster will proceed toward discovery and trial after a Washington State court rejected the companies’ joint motions to dismiss and strike the case. The court found that the claims in this first-of-its-kind case are not blocked by federal law because they are “not about regulating emissions,” as the oil companies argued.

Misti Leon sued ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, Shell, and other oil and gas companies for fueling the extreme heat that killed her mother, Julie Leon, on the hottest day in Washington State history during the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat dome. Scientists found that the event would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change.

The temperature rose above 100 degrees for the third consecutive day on June 28, 2021, when Julie was driving home from a doctor’s appointment in Seattle, Washington. Julie was later found unresponsive in her car with the windows down, and despite several rounds of life-saving measures, she could not be revived. The medical examiner ruled Julie’s cause of death as hyperthermia — a condition that killed hundreds of people during the heat dome.

The court granted ConocoPhillips’s request to be removed from the case, but allowed Ms. Leon the opportunity to amend her complaint. Olympic Pipeline Company was removed as a defendant in the case.

Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, said:

“Big Oil’s reckless climate lies have contributed to countless preventable deaths. Now these corporations are one step closer to being held accountable or knowingly fueling climate conditions that are killing people. Legal action cannot undo the pain and suffering that fossil fuel companies have caused with their callous disregard for the well-established lethal impacts of their products, but it can secure a measure of justice for Big Oil’s victims and their families.”

Background on U.S. Climate Accountability Lawsuits Against Big Oil:

Eleven U.S. states — California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai`i, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont — and the District of Columbia, along with dozens of city, county, and tribal governments in California, Colorado, Hawai`i, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Puerto Rico, have active lawsuits to hold major oil and gas companies accountable for deceiving the public about their products’ role in climate change. These cases collectively represent more than 1 in 4 people living in the United States.

The oil and gas industry and its allies have been lobbying Congress and the Trump administration for more than a year to escape accountability. Republican lawmakers have introduced bills in the U.S. House and Senate that aim to grant Big Oil companies broad immunity from climate laws and lawsuits, and a growing number of states have passed state-level laws that aim to shield fossil fuel companies from legal accountability. Recent reporting from ProPublica found those bills are "part of a coordinated effort by groups linked to right-wing activist Leonard Leo."

Last year, 16 Republican attorneys general proposed creating a “liability shield” for fossil fuel companies modeled on a 2005 law protecting gun manufacturers from lawsuits. In January, the American Petroleum Institute announced that killing state climate lawsuits is a top 2026 priority for the oil lobby.

Later this year, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider a case from Boulder, Colorado. Boulder is one of a growing number of communities across the U.S. — including Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, the District of Columbia, and the states of Massachusetts, Vermont, Minnesota and Connecticut — whose climate deception lawsuits against Big Oil companies are advancing toward discovery and trial after courts denied the companies’ motions to dismiss.