Climate Tort Lawsuit in South Carolina Dismissed by State Court

On August 6, 2025, a state court judge in South Carolina dismissed the climate change tort lawsuit filed by the City of Charleston against a number of major fossil fuel companies.  (This lawsuit was one of approximately three dozen that have been filed over the past decade on behalf of state and local governments against fossil fuel companies, asserting damages due to climate change under various state tort laws.)  In his decision, Judge Young not only held that “Federal law precludes and preempts Plaintiff's claims,” but also determined that the “Court lacks personal jurisdiction over certain Defendants because Plaintiff's claims are not related to and do not arise out of those Defendants' alleged activities in South Carolina.”  This legal reasoning, which echoes other decisions that have dismissed these type of claims (e.g., in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York), provides further support for the legal arguments that these claims are ultimately not viable.

Significantly, the court opined that “Plaintiff's theory of liability appears almost limitless” and that “[t]hese lawsuits promise to create a chaotic web of conflicting legal obligations for Defendants as each state and municipality (sometimes within the very same state) imposes its own de facto regulations on the worldwide production, marketing, transport, and sale of fossil fuels.”  Focusing on these practical concerns with the legal architecture of the climate change tort claims, the court stated that “[a]ny resolution to the climate-change issues Plaintiff seeks to remedy must rest with the federal political branches that are legally and substantively equipped to address them.”  (Indeed, the courts' reliance as a legal matter on the political question doctrine and federal preemption to dismiss the claims at issue echoes these practical concerns.)

While this decision does not directly impact the multitude of other climate change tort lawsuits predicated on state law tort claims currently wending their way through the courts, it is nonetheless significant as providing yet another example demonstrating the lack of success of these type of claims.  Although additional lawsuits based upon this theory may yet be brought--especially as certain cases remain pending and there has not yet been a full adjudication on the merits--the rate of these lawsuits certainly appears to be decreasing.  If this legal avenue ultimately proves fruitless, it is likely that activists will pursue other options in an effort to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for climate change.