Court Tosses Landmark Global Warming Ruling After Late Recusal

By Gabriel Nelson, New York times, Greenwire

After an unusual about-face prompted by a late recusal, a federal appeals court has scrapped a ruling that said the nation's largest producers of greenhouse gas emissions could be sued for the damage caused by global warming.

The case, Comer v. Murphy Oil, started with a lawsuit by Gulf Coast residents affected by Hurricane Katrina. Claiming that global warming contributed to the severity of the storm, the plaintiffs sued dozens of the nation's largest polluters -- a veritable who's who of utilities, chemical companies and the oil industry.

The Comer case is one of several pioneering climate change cases based on claims of public nuisance, a centuries-old mainstay of common law that allows people to sue their neighbors for nuisances such as foul smells, loud noises or overgrown trees. A three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that the plaintiffs could proceed with their lawsuit, but that ruling is now out of play unless the plaintiffs appeal to the Supreme Court and the justices decide to intervene.

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