Climate Change Torts Thrown Out Of Court

On June 20, 2011, the United States Supreme Court handed down its 8-0 decision in American Electric Power Co., Inc., et al. v. Connecticut, et al., No. 10-174. In an Opinion written by Justice Ginsburg, the Supreme Court decided that federal common law public nuisance claims could not be maintained against carbon-dioxide and greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting entities. The Court held that such claims were barred because the federal Clean Air Act (Act) displaces such common law nuisance claims. The Court found that Congress had entrusted the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to decide how GHGs should be regulated, and that federal courts are not entitled to issue their own rules.