Big Oil is One Step Closer to Accountability for Causing Death
Misti Leon’s wrongful death suit alleging Big Oil killed her mother survives industry’s motion to dismiss
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Misti Leon’s lawsuit seeking to hold Big Oil accountable for wrongfully causing the death of her mother—the first wrongful death suit of its kind in the U.S.—survived a motion to dismiss the suit brought by the industry’s legal team. The case will now proceed to the discovery phase.
In response, Aaron Regunberg, director of Public Citizen’s Climate Accountability Project, issued the following statement:
“Julie Leon’s death was not a natural tragedy. Climate scientists determined the heat wave that caused her death would have been ‘virtually impossible’ but for global warming. This warming is largely the result of the conduct of a small number of major fossil fuel companies like ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, and BP. These companies knew or should have known their fossil fuels would cause, in their own employees’ and industry association’s words, ‘globally catastrophic’ climate harms that would create ‘more violent weather’ and cause ‘suffering and death due to thermal extremes.’ Despite this knowledge, they spent years preventing the public from understanding the risks their products were creating. Thanks to the courage of Misti Leon, these companies are one step closer to being held accountable for this lethal conduct.
“In addition to ‘wrongful death,’ which is a civil cause of action, we have another word for wrongfully causing the death of another person: homicide. Prosecutors in Washington should seriously consider initiating criminal investigations into Big Oil’s role in causing deaths like Julie Leon’s.”
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