The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has agreed to hear (via E&E News, subscription required) appeals of two cases before the same panel, on the same date. San Francisco, Oakland and other California governments are seeking damages they claim energy companies owe them from climate change.
Some municipalities had opposed the motion to argue the cases together, while defendant energy companies sought to avoid more “ad hoc, case by case decisions“. One of the decisions at issue favored the defendants. The other — seeking to hear the case in state court, which the local governments feel give them a better chance for prevailing — went the plaintiffs’ way.