ELR Citation: 53 ELR 20154
No(s). 21-1446-cv (2d Cir. Sep 27, 2023)

The Second Circuit affirmed a district court order remanding to state court a climate liability lawsuit against an oil and gas company. The state of Connecticut initially sued the company in state court, alleging it engaged in a decades-long campaign of knowingly misleading and deceiving Connecticut consumers about the negative climatological effects of the fossil fuels it marketed to them. The company removed the suit to federal court, invoking jurisdiction under the federal question statute, federal officer removal statute, and Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA). The district court rejected all of the company's grounds for federal jurisdiction and remanded the suit to state court. The appellate court found no federal issue was "necessarily raised" by any of the state's claims; that the company could not establish it performed the actions for which it was being sued—deceptive marketing and public relations campaigns—"under color of federal office"; and that the state's claims concerned neither extracting nor burning oil and gas, and thus could not trigger jurisdiction under OCSLA. It affirmed remand to state court.