RHODE ISLAND v. SHELL OIL PRODUCTS CO., L.L.C.

No. 19-1818.

979 F.3d 50 (2020)

State of RHODE ISLAND, Plaintiff, Appellee, v. SHELL OIL PRODUCTS CO., L.L.C.; Chevron Corp.; Chevron USA, Inc.; ExxonMobil Corp.; BP, PLC; BP America, Inc.; BP Products North America, Inc.; Royal Dutch Shell P.L.C.; Motiva Enterprises, L.L.C.; CITGO Petroleum Corp.; ConocoPhillips; ConocoPhillips Co.; Phillips 66; Marathon Oil Co.; Marathon Petroleum Corp.; Marathon Petroleum Co., L.P.; Speedway, L.L.C.; Hess Corp.; LUKOIL Pan Americas L.L.C.; AND Does 1-100, Defendants, Appellants, Getty Petroleum Marketing, Inc. Defendant.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

October 29, 2020.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr. , Los Angeles, CA, with whom Joshua S. Lipshutz , Washington, DC, Anne Champion , New York, NY, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Gerald J. Petros , Robin L. Main , Ryan M. Gainor , Hinckley, Allen & Snyder LLP, Providence, RI, Neal S. Manne , Houston, TX, Susman Godfrey LLP, John A. Tarantino , Patricia K. Rocha , Nicole J. Benjamin , Adler Pollock & Sheehan P.C., Providence, RI, Philip H. Curtis , Nancy G. Milburn , New York, NY, Matthew T. Heartney , Los Angeles, CA, Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, Matthew T. Oliverio , Providence, RI, Oliverio & Marcaccio LLP, Theodore V. Wells, Jr. , Daniel J. Toal , New York, NY, Jaren Janghorbani , Kannon Shanmugam , Washington, DC, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, Garrison LLP, Jeffrey S. Brenner , Providence, RI, Nixon Peabody LLP, David C. Frederick , Brendan J. Crimmins , Grace W. Knofczynski , Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick, P.L.L.C., Washington, DC, Daniel B. Levin , Los Angeles, CA, Jerome C. Roth , Elizabeth A. Kim , San Francisco, CA, Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, John E. Bulman , Stephen J. MacGillivray , Pierce Atwood LLP, Providence, RI, Nathan P. Eimer , Pamela R. Hanebutt , Lisa S. Meyer , Chicago, IL, Raphael Janove , Ryan J. Walsh , Madison, WI, Eimer Stahl LLP, Michael J. Colucci , Warwick, RI, Olenn & Penza, LLP, Sean C. Grimsley , Jameson R. Jones , Bartlit Beck LLP, Denver, CO, Robert G. Flanders, Jr. , Timothy K. Baldwin , Whelan, Corrente, Flanders, Kinder & Siket LLP, Steven M. Bauer , Margaret A. Tough , Latham & Watkins LLP, San Francisco, CA, Jeffrey B. Pine , Patrick C. Lynch , Lynch & Pine, Providence, RI, Shannon S. Broome , San Francisco, CA, Shawn Patrick Regan , New York, NY, Ann Marie Mortimer , Los Angeles, CA, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, Jason C. Preciphs , Providence, RI, Roberts, Carroll, Feldstein & Peirce, Inc., J. Scott Janoe , Houston, TX, Matthew Allen , Megan Berge , Washington, DC, Baker Botts L.L.P., Lauren Motola-Davis , Samuel A. Kennedy-Smith , Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, Providence, RI, Jeffrey S. Brenner , Providence, RI, Nixon Peabody LLP, Stephen M. Prignano , Providence, RI, McIntyre Tate LLP, James Stengel , New York, NY, Robert Reznick , Washington, DC, and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP, were on brief for appellants.

Victor M. Sher , with whom Matthew K. Edling , Sher Edling LLP, and Neil F.X. Kelly , Assistant Attorney General, were on brief for appellee.

Steven P. Lehotsky , Washington, DC, U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, Peter D. Keisler , Tobias S. Loss-Eaton , and Sidley Austin LLP, Washington, DC, on brief for Chamber of Commerce of The United States of America, amicus curiae.

Patrick Parenteau , Vermont Law School, Harold Hongju Koh , Conor Dwyer Reynolds , Peter Gruber Rule of Law Clinic, and Yale Law School, on brief for Former U.S. Government Officials, amicus curiae.

Gerson H. Smoger , Oakland, CA, Smoger & Associates, P.C., Anthony Tarricone , Boston, MA, and Kreindler & Kreindler, LLP, on brief for Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Senator Jack Reed, and Senator Edward Markey, amicus curiae.

Scott L. Nelson , Allison M. Zieve , and Public Citizen Litigation Group, Washington, DC, were on brief for Public Citizen, amicus curiae.

Robert S. Peck and Center For Constitutional Litigation, P.C., Washington, DC, on brief for The National League of Cities; The U.S. Conference of Mayors; and The International Municipal Lawyers Association, amicus curiae.

Amy Williams-Derry , Daniel P. Mensher , Alison S. Gaffney , and Keller Rohrback L.L.P., Seattle, WA, on brief for Robert Brulle , Center for Climate Integrity, Justin Farrell , Benjamin Franta , Stephan Lewandowsky , Naomi Oreskes , Geoffrey Supran , and The Union of Concerned Scientists, amicus curiae.

William A. Rossbach and Rossbach Law, PC on brief for Mario J. Molina , Michael Oppenheimer , Robert E. Kopp , Friederike Otto , Susanne C. Moser , Donald J. Wuebbles , Gary B. Griggs , Peter C. Frumhoff and Kristina Dahl , amicus curiae.

Peter Huffman on brief for Natural Resources Defense Council, amicus curiae.

Xavier Becerra , Attorney General for the State of California, David A. Zonana , Supervising Deputy Attorney General, Erin Ganahl , Deputy Attorney General, Heather Leslie , Deputy Attorney General, Maura Healey , Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Seth Schofield , Senior Appellate Counsel, William Tong , Attorney General of Connecticut, Kathleen Jennings , Attorney General of Delaware, Clare E. Connors , Attorney General of Hawaii, Aaron M. Frey , Attorney General of Maine, Brian E. Frosh , Attorney General of Maryland, Keith Ellison , Attorney General of Minnesota, Gurbir S. Grewal , Attorney General of New Jersey, Letitia James , Attorney General of New York, Ellen F. Rosenblum , Attorney General of Oregon, Thomas J. Donovan , Attorney General of Vermont, and Robert W. Ferguson , Attorney General of Washington on brief for Commonwealth of Massachusetts, State of California, State of Connecticut, State of Delaware, State of Hawaii, State of Maine, State of Maryland, State of Minnesota, State of New Jersey, State of New York, State of Oregon, State of Vermont, and State of Washington, amicus curiae.

Matthew D. Hardin on brief for Energy Policy Advocates, amicus curiae.

Before Howard, Chief Judge and Thompson, Circuit Judge.


Rhode Island is salty about losing its already limited square footage to rising sea levels caused by climate change. Facing property damage from extreme weather events and otherwise losing money to the effects of climate change, Rhode Island sued a slew of oil and gas companies for the damage caused by fossil fuels while...

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