CITY OF NEW YORK v. CHEVRON CORP.

No. 18-2188 August Term 2019.

993 F.3d 81 (2021)

CITY OF NEW YORK, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CHEVRON CORPORATION, Conoco-Phillips, Exxon Mobil Corporation, Royal Dutch Shell plc, BP p.l.c., Defendants-Appellees.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Decided: April 1, 2021.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

John Moore ( Richard Dearing , Claude S. Platton , Nwamaka Ejebe , on the brief), for James E. Johnson , Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, New York, NY; Steve W. Berman , on the brief, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, Seattle, WA; Matthew F. Pawa , on the brief, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, Newton Centre, MA, for Appellant City of New York.

Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr. ( Joshua S. Lipshutz , on the brief), Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Los Angeles, CA; Andrea E. Neuman , Anne Champion , on the brief, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, New York, NY; Herbert J. Stern , Joel M. Silverstein , on the brief, Stern & Kilcullen, LLC, Florham Park, NJ, for Appellee Chevron Corporation.

John F. Savarese , Ben M. Germana , Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, New York, NY; Sean C. Grimsley , James R. Jones , Bartlit Beck LLP, Denver, CO, for Appellee ConocoPhillips.

Theodore V. Wells, Jr. , Daniel J. Toal , Jaren Janghorbani , Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, LLP, New York, NY; Dawn Sestito , O'Melveny & Myers LLP, Los Angeles, CA; Patrick J. Conlon , Exxon Mobil Corporation, Houston, TX, for Appellee Exxon Mobil Corporation.

David C. Frederick , Brendan J. Crimmins , Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick, P.L.L.C., Washington, DC, for Appellee Royal Dutch Shell.

Nancy G. Milburn , Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, New York, NY, Matthew T. Heartney , Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, Los Angeles, CA, for Appellee BP p.l.c.

Catherine M. Sharkey , Crystal Eastman Professor of Law, New York University School of Law, New York, NY, for Amicus Curiae Catherine M. Sharkey, Crystal Eastman Professor of Law.

David S. Frankel , Assistant Solicitor General, Steven C. Wu , Deputy Solicitor General, for Letitia James , Attorney General, State of New York, New York, NY, for Amici Curiae States of New York, California, Maryland, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, and the District of Columbia.

Harold Hongju Koh , Michael J. Wishnie , Conor Dwyer Reynolds , Yale Law School, Rule of Law Clinic, for Amici Curiae Professors Sarah H. Cleveland , Zachary D. Clopton , William S. Dodge , Harold Hongju Koh , Kermit Roosevelt III , and Christopher A. Whytock .

Kimberly Ong , Natural Resources Defense Council, New York, NY, for Amici Curiae New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, THE POINT Community Development Corporation, and UPROSE.

Michael Burger , Jennifer Danis , Morningside Heights Legal Services, Inc., Columbia Environmental Law Clinic, New York, NY, for Amici Curiae National League of Cities, U.S. Conference of Mayors, and International Municipal Lawyers Association.

Corbin K. Barthold , Richard A. Samp , Washington Legal Foundation, Washington, DC, for Amicus Curiae Washington Legal Foundation.

Eric Grant , Deputy Assistant Attorney General, R. Justin Smith , Christine W. Ennis , United States Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division, Washington, DC, for Amicus Curiae United States of America.

Peter D. Keisler , C. Frederick Beckner III , Ryan C. Morris , Tobias S. Loss-Eaton , Sidley Austin LLP, Washington, DC; Steven P. Lehotsky , Michael B. Schon , Jonathan D. Urick , U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, Washington, DC, for Amicus Curiae Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America.

Philip S. Goldberg , Christopher E. Appel , Shook Hardy & Bacon L.L.P., Washington, DC; Linda E. Kelly , Peter C. Tolsdorf , Manufacturers' Center for Legal Action, Washington, DC, for Amicus Curiae National Association of Manufacturers.

Thomas M. Fisher , Solicitor General, Kian J. Hudson , Deputy Solicitor General, for Todd Rokita , Attorney General of Indiana, Office of the Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, for Amici Curiae States of Indiana, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.

Yaakov M. Roth , Jones Day, Washington, DC; Robert A. Mittelstaedt , Jones Day, San Francisco, CA; Robert E. Johnson , Jones Day, Cleveland, OH, Kelly Holt , Jones Day, Boston, MA, for Amicus Curiae Professor Richard A. Epstein .

Before: Kearse, Sullivan, and Park, Circuit Judges.


The question before us is whether municipalities may utilize state tort law to hold multinational oil companies liable for the damages caused by global greenhouse gas emissions. Given the nature of the harm and the existence of a complex web of federal and international environmental law regulating such emissions...

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