Circuit Court for Baltimore City Dismisses Climate Change Suit

On July 10, 2024, the Circuit Court for Baltimore City granted defendants’ motions to dismiss claims brought against them by the City of Baltimore relating to climate change. This decision brings to a close, for now, a case that has wound a tortuous path through Maryland’s state and federal courts, though the City has recently appealed the decision.

Jurisdictions across the country have brought suit against dozens of energy companies for allegedly causing or exacerbating problems related to climate change. While plaintiffs’ theories have evolved since these suits were first filed almost a decade ago, in their current iteration, plaintiffs like the City of Baltimore claim that the energy companies have known for half a century that use of their fossil fuel products have created greenhouse gas pollution that has, inter alia, contributed to global warming but, rather than share their knowledge, have engaged in a campaign of deception to misrepresent and conceal their products’ risks.

The City of Baltimore in particular claims that as a result of this misrepresentation and concealment, it and the public at large have relied to their detriment on the energy companies’ false statements, causing climate change-related injuries such as sea level rise, increased frequency and severity of extreme precipitation events, increased frequency and severity of drought, increased frequency and severity of heat wave and extreme temperatures, and consequently social and economic damages associated with those physical and environmental changes.

Baltimore first brought suit in state court in July 2018. The case was removed to the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, which remanded the matter in June 2019. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed that decision in March 2020, but the matter was stayed that summer pending a decision on a writ of certiorari filed with the United States Supreme Court, which ultimately vacated and remanded the case for consideration of defendants’ theories of removal. The Fourth Circuit nonetheless affirmed remand in 2022, and the Circuit Court for Baltimore City lifted the stay in May 2023.  The parties thereafter briefed motions to dismiss, and the court held oral argument in March 2024.

Generally, defendants’ motions advanced four arguments: the City’s claims are preempted by federal common law; the City’s state law claims are preempted by the Clean Air Act; the City’s claims raise nonjusticiable political questions, and the City failed to state claims upon which relief could be granted. The Court granted the defendants’ joint motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, finding that the City’s claims were preempted by both federal common law and the Clean Air Act and that, even were that not the case, the City has failed to adequately plead its state law claims. 

Silverman Thompson has served as local counsel to Shell plc and Shell USA, Inc. (collectively “Shell”) in this matter since the outset (we also represent Shell as local counsel in similar litigation pending in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County).

Silverman Thompson lawyers have both prosecuted and defended complex environmental and tort matters in Maryland’s state and federal courts as well as across the country.  To learn more about Silverman Thompson generally, or its sophisticated business litigation practice, please contact Bill Sinclair, who served as the primary Silverman Thompson lawyer handling this matter. He can be reached directly at 410.385.9116.