"Fossil fuel firms move to dismiss climate lawsuit in Hawaii as Maui faces wildfires", 17 August 2023

Hawaii’s supreme court on Thursday heard attempts by fossil fuel companies to dismiss a climate accountability lawsuit. The hearing came as the deadly fires in Maui capture global headlines...

In 2020, officials from the city and county of Honolulu sued eight fossil fuel giants that allegedly knew for decades about the climate dangers of burning coal, oil and gas, yet actively hid that information from consumers and investors. That misinformation campaign, the lawsuit argues, is a key reason Honolulu is facing the steep costs of abating climate damages from extreme weather events...

The case is one of dozens filed against big oil since 2017 by states and municipalities over climate deception, which build on certain oil companies’ well-documented history of sowing doubt about climate science. Another suit was filed by Maui county, where wildfires among the deadliest in US history have been blazing; that case was at one point consolidated with Honolulu’s.

The fires ravaging Hawaii “underscore the importance” of such litigation, said Denise Antolini, a retired University of Hawaii law professor and supporter of the plaintiffs...

Yet the defendants have filed several motions to dismiss the case, two of which the Hawaii supreme court heard on Thursday afternoon...

The court first heard a “personal jurisdiction” motion, in which the defendants will argue that they did not conduct enough business in Hawaii to be hauled into the state’s courts...

At the hearing, [Vic] Sher [attorney for the plaintiffs] noted that the defendants operate gas stations, refineries and storage facilities in Hawaii...

The defendants’ attorneys also argued a “failure to state a claim” motion, which claims that the lawsuit should be tossed out because the issues with which it grapples should be dealt with by lawmakers, not state courts...

Sher disagreed. “The Clean Air Act reduces pollution,” he said. “It does not provide a safe haven for international corporations to dissemble and lie about their products, which is what the defense’s argument boils down to here.”

The first circuit court in Hawaii denied both of these motions to dismiss last year, but the defendants appealed.

One defendant in the Honolulu suit, Chevron, has also filed a third motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that it violates the company’s first amendment rights. That motion was also dismissed by a Hawaii court last year and is moving through a separate appeals process.

A decision on the motions to dismiss the case could take many months to emerge...