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ARTICLE · 11 OCTOBER 2016

Massachusetts Innovates Again, This Time With New Climate Change Litigation

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As an MIT grad and loyal resident, I'm always happy to see stories about Massachusetts' role in the innovation economy. Last week, news arrived of more innovation – this time on the legal front.

United StatesEnvironment
Seth Jaffe
Seth Jaffe
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As an MIT grad and loyal resident (Go Sox!), I'm always happy to see stories about Massachusetts' role in the innovation economy.  Last week, news arrived of more innovation in Massachusetts – this time on the legal front.  CLF sued Exxon Mobil for not adapting its Everett storage terminal to harden it against the effects of climate change.

I've previously raised the possibility that, at some point, citizen suits on climate change could be like tobacco litigation or marriage equality litigation, originally, dead losers that were a minor nuisance to defendants, but which ultimately became major fronts on the winning side of the issue.  I've also noted occasional skepticism of that possibility.

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