New Global Warming Battlefield - The Courts

JaJae · 08-16-2007, 10:51 AM

This may sound like a joke to some, but it is true. Mississippi has filed a class action lawsuit against oil, coal and power companies for causing Hurricane Katrina. You really can't make this up.

If this ever gets to a jury it could be a toss-up and likely the plaintiffs would win based on emotion, however, it would force a lot of "science" to come on the courtroom floor. Global warming sensationalists who make these radical claims have never wanted to debate the issues. Now they will be forced to if they wish to make their case.

In the United States, there are currently about a dozen cases involving demands for tighter regulation and claims for damages. Among them is a case brought by property owners in Mississippi against oil and coal companies they accuse of playing a role in Hurricane Katrina, which struck the region with devastating consequences in August 2005.

Led by Ned Comer, a Gulf Coast resident left homeless by the storm, the plaintiffs are seeking compensation from dozens of companies, including ExxonMobil and Duke Energy, on the grounds that these companies' emissions directly contributed to global warming, which in turn raised the temperature of seawater in the Gulf of Mexico and intensified the strength of the hurricane.

"We can prove how much carbon these companies have pumped into the air with great precision," said Gerald Maples, a lead lawyer in the case.

Fighting climate change, one lawsuit at a time - International Herald Tribune

I have a question... how much energy, oil, coal did THEY use? I think that's the most ironic part of this all. They're suing companies for providing them with a service that they chose to use.

WickedLou9 · 08-16-2007, 11:06 AM

Even I, a believer in human influenced global warming, think that this lawsuit is a joke. Joke isn't really a strong enough word actually.

The only possible case they could file would be under something called "Strict Liability" where there does not have to be any fault. For Strict liability all you need to do is prove that there was a defect, that the defect casued some incident and that incident lead to harm. There does not need to be negligence or intent or anything like that.

I'm just not sure how you make the arguement that co2 emissions are a defect.