Supreme Court prepares to test nearly 60 local climate-liability suits

On September 30, Reuters reported that the US Supreme Court would hear ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy’s challenge to Boulder, Colorado’s climate-liability lawsuit on October 5. The companies argue that federal law and the Clean Air Act preclude Boulder's state-law damages claims, while Boulder seeks compensation for infrastructure, environmental, emergency-management and public-health costs; nearly 60 state and local governments have brought similar suits. The immediate question includes whether the Court has jurisdiction at this procedural stage, but a broad ruling for the companies could eliminate or narrow a much larger category of climate claims. Companies and public-sector plaintiffs should therefore separate exposure analyses by cause of action, forum and claimed harm rather than treating US climate litigation as one uniform risk.