Justice Department Urges Dismissal Of Maryland Climate Lawsuits

The U.S. Department of Justice waded into a case before the Maryland Supreme Court last week, filing an amicus brief urging dismissal of climate lawsuits targeting an array of the nation’s largest oil and gas companies. The DOJ brief was one of eight - including one filed by 24 state attorneys general led by Alabama - filed in the Maryland case, which has yet to be scheduled for oral arguments.

All of the briefs ask the court to uphold lower court dismissals of cases involving Baltimore, Annapolis, and Anne Arundel County which demand compensation for ill-defined damages allegedly arising from global emissions caused by burning of oil and gas. State Judge Steven Platt dismissed the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County case on January 16, 2025, and Baltimore’s case was dismissed by Judge Videtta Brown on July 10, 2024. Following appeals by the plaintiffs, the cases were since combined into a single case before the Maryland high court since they all involve essentially the same arguments.

A Nationwide Campaign of Climate Lawsuits

That latter fact is unsurprising since these cases are part of a nationwide lawfare campaign organized by a handful of law firms - most notably the Sher Edling Firm in San Francisco - in which local governments are convinced to serve as the plaintiffs in hopes of securing lucrative settlements from “Big Oil.” To this point, the campaign, which dates back to at least 2018, has seen little success, with at least 9 similar cases having been poured out of lower courts around the country.