Lady Sues Oil Corporations For Inflicting Her Mom’s Dying

Final Up to date on: thirty first Might 2025, 10:36 am

Julie Leon, age 65, was discovered unresponsive in her automotive in Seattle on June 28, 2021. Later that day, she died and emergency medical employees discovered her inner temperature was 110º F. This week, her daughter, Misti Leon, filed a wrongful dying lawsuit in Superior Court docket for King County within the State of Washington. The swimsuit seeks to carry numerous oil firms answerable for her mom’s dying.

On the day Julie Leon died, the Pacific Northwest was experiencing a warmth dome — a blast of scorching air that lay over the area like a pall. On that day, the temperature in Seattle reached 108°F — the very best ever recorded for town. An attribution examine launched shortly after the occasion by a group of local weather scientists claimed the 2021 warmth dome would have been “just about inconceivable with out human-caused local weather change,” in accordance with a report by NPR.

The lawsuit names numerous oil firms as defendants, together with ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, Shell, ConocoPhillips, varied sundry subsidiaries of these firms, and Olympic Pipeline Firm. As a part of the criticism, the lawyer for Misti Leon claimed:

“Defendants perceive the dangers of their fossil gas merchandise, however many peculiar customers don’t. For many years, Defendants have hid their data of and deceived the general public about these dangers, hooking customers on fossil fuels with out their understanding or consent to the chance of hurt to themselves, others, and the planet. This multi-decade marketing campaign of deception has been wildly profitable.

“As a result of customers don’t perceive the severity and breadth of the dangers posed by fossil gas merchandise, they’ve participated in an economic system depending on them. And when a tragedy like Julie’s dying outcomes from the prolific use of fossil fuels, it’s straightforward to dismiss the misfortune as an accident slightly than a foreseeable consequence of Defendants’ deception. Via affirmative misrepresentations and omissions, Defendants have made trillions of {dollars} and escaped accountability for his or her actions.”

What is exclusive about this lawsuit is that it’s introduced by one particular person towards a number of the wealthiest and strongest companies within the historical past of the world. Up till now, fits towards Massive Oil have principally been introduced by cities, counties, or states looking for to get better damages for the prices of defending towards rising sea ranges and comparable infrastructure bills. Just a few fits by principally younger plaintiffs have sought to power Massive Oil to wash up its messes. However by no means earlier than within the US has anybody sued the oil firms for inflicting the dying of a single particular person.

Douglas Kysar, college director of the Legislation, Atmosphere, and Animals Program at Yale Legislation Faculty, advised NPR this lawsuit stands out from different local weather instances which are working their approach by means of the courts. “The benefit of this lawsuit is that it places a person human face on the large dangerous penalties of collective local weather inaction. Not solely that, the criticism tells a narrative of trade betrayal of public belief by means of the eyes of a selected individual.”

Oil Corporations And State Courts

These of you who usually are not authorized students could not respect the strategic benefits of suing in state court docket slightly than federal court docket. One of the vital essential for plaintiffs like Misti Leon is that state courts usually enable for a lot broader discovery — the pretrial course of that requires each side to reveal paperwork, memos, transcripts, analysis, or recordings which may be related to the case.

There are different benefits as effectively. Juries in state courts have extra freedom to award damages as they deem acceptable, for instance. After which there’s the biggie — no evaluation by a politically motivated Supreme Court docket in Washington, DC, dominated by ideologues handpicked by the fossil gas trade. As a bunch, these firms know ultimately certainly one of these federal lawsuits goes to achieve success they usually have moved heaven and earth to ensure they’ve judges who’re on their facet when crunch time arrives.

There’s one other uncommon side to this case. It isn’t a felony case however slightly a civil matter. Within the State of Washington, juries in civil instances that contain claims of greater than $100,000 are tried by a jury of 12 individuals. However in contrast to in a felony trial wherein the jury should attain a unanimous verdict, a civil jury should solely get 10 of the 12 jurors to agree on a verdict.

As well as, the usual of proof is the preponderance of the proof, not past an inexpensive doubt. Authorized students have written thousands and thousands of phrases about that distinction, however usually, a preponderance of the proof means 51 % whereas past an inexpensive doubt is nearer to 90 % or increased, relying on who you ask.

Misti Leon will solely must persuade ten Washingtonians, tried and true, that it’s extra possible than not the oil firms are accountable in some extent for Julie Leon’s dying. As soon as that occurs, the door might be vast open to really historic damages. A jury in a civil case can solely do two issues — award financial damages to cowl precise losses and assess punitive damages. There isn’t a restrict on both award apart from a choose’s inherent energy to restrict awards which are manifestly unjust.

The Energy Of Punitive Damages

For many who is probably not aware of the thought of punitive damages, here’s a primer from Wikipedia. “Punitive damages […] are assessed with a purpose to punish the defendant for outrageous conduct and/or to reform or deter the defendant and others from participating in conduct much like that which shaped the idea of the lawsuit. Though the aim of punitive damages is to not compensate the plaintiff, the plaintiff will obtain all or a number of the punitive damages awarded.”

It goes on to say that punitive damages are acceptable “if the defendant’s conduct was egregiously insidious.” Personally, I can not consider something that might extra “egregiously insidious” than the conduct of a fossil gas trade that has had precise data of the hurt their merchandise do for over 50 years and engaged in an lively marketing campaign of lies and deception to maintain that data from changing into public data.

As well as, they’ve intentionally twisted no matter data that did turn out to be public to make it appear unreliable or tainted by what the present head of the EPA calls a “local weather change faith.” For a response to that madness, please see the response from Mark Z. Jacobson of Stanford College.

True to that script, Theodore Boutrous, a lawyer for Chevron, criticized the lawsuit. In a press release to NPR, he huffed, “Exploiting a private tragedy to advertise politicized local weather tort litigation is opposite to regulation, science, and customary sense. The court docket ought to add this far-fetched declare to the rising listing of meritless local weather lawsuits that state and federal courts have already dismissed.” We will solely marvel what the extremely paid lawyer would say if it have been his mom who died through the oppressive warmth wave. Although, if he talks right down to a jury like that, that might be an enormous assist to the plaintiff ‘s case.

Executives within the walnut paneled boardrooms at these firms have to be gobbling antacid tablets about now. They’re in a significant jackpot right here they usually realize it. When a jury hears about all of the lies and deceitful techniques they’ve employed for the previous 50 years or extra, it might conceivably vote to punish them with punitive damages of thousands and thousands and even billions of {dollars}.

Their associates in DC received’t be capable of assist them, the oil-soaked stooges on the Supreme Court docket received’t be capable of assist them, and the failed president received’t be capable of pardon them. They are going to be on the mercy of ten peculiar individuals who occur to stay in and round Seattle — and their fastidiously constructed protecting cocoon of compliant authorities directors, members of Congress, presidents and judges received’t be capable of shield them.

We will’t wait to see these corrupt, prevaricating companies get the comeuppance they so richly deserve. Does that make us partisan? Oh, you betcha!