The first U.S. climate lawsuit to accuse oil companies of racketeering has been tossed by a federal judge.
Judge Silvia Carreño-Coll of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico on Thursday dismissed the lawsuit filed in 2022 by more than 30 municipalities in Puerto Rico who sued the fossil fuel industry for compensation related to the 2017 hurricane season that killed thousands of people.
The suit argued that the oil majors misled the public about the dangers of burning fossil fuels and contributed to a string of storms, including Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 behemoth that killed an estimated 3,000 people on the island.
In the 125-page ruling, Carreño-Coll said the court was “not insensitive to the plight of the people of Puerto Rico resultant from the 2017 hurricanes.” But Carreño-Coll noted that judges are reminded that “it is the duty of all courts of justice to take care, for the general good of the community, that hard cases do not make bad law.”
