An unusual lawsuit seeking to hold fossil fuel companies responsible for the hurricane devastation in Puerto Rico in 2017 has been dismissed by a judge. The case had accused the companies of racketeering, a claim more commonly used against organized crime.
But the ruling left open the door for a partial appeal, which the plaintiffs — dozens of cities and towns scattered across the archipelago — said they intended to file.
“We will appeal this decision, and as these climate cases move to the higher courts, we are confident they will deliver justice for Puerto Rico,” said Marc Grossman, an attorney at the firm Milberg who represents the municipalities.
Judge Silvia Carreño-Coll of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico ruled that the lawsuit was prohibited by a four-year statute of limitations, since the storms occurred in 2017 but the case wasn’t filed until 2022. “Plaintiffs were not diligent” in filing on time, the judge wrote in the 125-page ruling. The plaintiffs said they disputed that interpretation of the statute of limitations, citing a recommendation by a different judge.
Judge Carreño-Coll, who was nominated by President Trump in 2019, also ruled that the plaintiffs had failed to establish that all of the defendants had sufficient connections to Puerto Rico to justify the lawsuit.
The judge wrote in her finding that “the court is not insensitive to the plight of the people of Puerto Rico” from the devastating twin hurricanes in 2017. She also noted that she wasn’t ruling on the merits of the novel racketeering legal theories at the heart of the case.
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The post Unusual Climate Case Accusing Oil Giants of Racketeering Is Dismissed appeared first on New York Times.
