Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana and Mississippi on August 29, 2005.
On September 23, Blawgletter reported that the Second Circuit revived a complaint that tied CO2 emissions to global warming under a public nuisance claim.
Last Friday, the Fifth Circuit reached the same result in a case arising from Hurricane Katrina. A class of Mississippi property owners alleged in Comer v. Murphy Oil USA, No. 07-60756 (5th Cir. Oct. 16, 2009), that carbon dioxide warmed the globe and made Katrina extra fierce. Of the Yankee court's decision, the panel said:
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently [held] that the case was justiciable. . . . Although we arrived at our own decision independenlty, the Second Circuit's reasoning is fully consistent with ours, particularly in its careful analysis of whether the case requires the court to address any specific issue that is constitutionally committed to another branch of government.
Id., slip op. at 29 n.15. One judge wrote that, ihho, the complaint didn't state a viable claim and that he would, if he had his way, affirm dismissal on that ground.
