Oakland, CA—In a unanimous ruling authored by Judge Sandra S. Ikuta, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit today reversed District Court Judge William Alsup’s decision dismissing the climate change lawsuits filed by San Francisco and Oakland in September 2017. The panel rejected the legal arguments raised by fossil fuel companies in this and similar suits around the country and held: (1) the state-law claim for public nuisance related to the impacts of global warming on public infrastructure “does not arise under federal law;” (2) the cases are not completely preempted by the Clean Air Act; and (3) as a result, the cases should not have been dismissed.

Both cases were sent back to Judge Alsup for further proceedings to determine whether any basis for federal court jurisdiction remains, or whether the cases should return to the state courts where they were originally filed. A copy of the court’s opinion is attached.

Oakland City Attorney Barbara J. Parker and San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera issued the following joint statement:

These lawsuits were filed to protect our residents, workers, and businesses from the harms of climate change knowingly imposed on our communities by the fossil fuel companies. Today’s ruling from a unanimous Court of Appeals panel puts us one step closer to that goal.

The court thoroughly rejected the fossil fuel companies’ argument that our cases somehow magically belong in federal court despite the fact that they were filed in state court raising only state law claims. We look forward to further proceedings with Judge Alsup and then getting these cases back to state court where they belong.