Multnomah County's $52 billion climate case against oil majors reaches key hearings

Oregon state court judge Adele Ridenour heard two full days of arguments this week in Multnomah County's roughly $52 billion lawsuit against Chevron and other fossil fuel companies over the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat dome, which killed 69 people. Defense counsel Theodore Boutrous argued federal law preempts the claims and that defendants' Oregon contacts are insufficient for the case to proceed there, while the county maintains it is pursuing deception-based claims rather than seeking to regulate emissions nationally; the same federal preemption question is expected before the US Supreme Court this fall in a related Colorado case. The case sits alongside nearly 40 similar state and local government suits nationally, and coincides with a growing legislative countertrend — Oklahoma and Louisiana have enacted industry-backed immunity laws, and federal immunity legislation is pending in Congress despite opposition from California, New York, and Oregon governors. Litigation counsel should track the anti-SLAPP motion hearings scheduled for October, which will test whether state anti-SLAPP statutes can be used defensively against municipal climate suits — a novel procedural vector with implications well beyond Oregon.