New productions from the City of Ft. Lauderdale, FL, below, shed further light on the climate litigation industry’s recruiting process, first revealed in two recent stories based on records obtained by Government Accountability & Oversight, P.C. (GAO), “Emails Show Law Firm Pitching Miami on Climate Lawsuit” and “Law Firm Pitching Suits Sought to Evade Detection by Open Records“.
The modus operandi now involves using layers of cutouts — local, politically wired lobbyists, and also a non-profit law firm — as intermediaries in the recruiting push for more municipalities to file lawsuits seeking “damages” from parties for having allegedly caused the climate to change. If history is any guide, a substantial portion of any such settlement would be distributed among political constituencies — namely, the global warming industry, and of course plaintiffs’ lawyers — as well as fund politicians’ projects. Like any tax, most or even all of it would be passed through to consumer.
The climate litigation industry has marched through numerous municipal offices now, from Northern California down the Pacific Coast, South Florida up the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and even the Rockies. As the climate litigation industry prepares to launch further assaults, from Attorneys General offices working with an activist donor, to the contingency-fee (meanwhile, also activist-funded) plaintiffs bar, expect to learn more. The public has a right to know how its public institutions are being used, particularly when used in this unprecedented mercenary and abusive way.
