A federal judge in California ruled this month that a lawsuit brought by a west coast fishing trade group—with deep ties to the law firm backing numerous climate cases against the oil and gas industry—belongs in federal court.
It was a striking blow for the often-criticized suit brought by the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA). In arguments before the court this fall, the judge even called one of their key arguments for remand “frivolous” and “rebuked” the plaintiff’s lawyer for raising it, as POLITICO reported:
“’I can’t really believe that we’re spending time on this,’ Chhabria told association lawyer Katie Jones of San Francisco, rebuking her for insisting that the lawsuit does not amount to a federal class-action case.”
Backed by the law firm Sher Edling, PCFFA had been fighting to remand the lawsuit—which stems from the fishermen’s claim that the companies’ actions contributed to climate change effects harming their industry—to state court after the defendants removed it to federal court in 2018.
Plaintiffs in these lawsuits have fought for the cases to be heard in state court, where they believes they stand a better chance of success, but the claims raised in PCFFA’s case clearly call for federal jurisdiction.
In the ruling out this month, Judge Vince Chhabria of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California found that the lawsuit inadvertently qualified as a class action. Under the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, this categorization allows the case to be moved to federal jurisdiction.
Case Recap: Familiar Players
As a reminder, since this case has been in purgatory for the better part of the last five years, PCFFA has deep connections to the coordinated network of trial attorneys and activists driving the larger climate litigation campaign against American energy companies.
The trade group is represented by Sher Edling, and one of the firm’s attorneys supporting the case was previously the executive director of PCFFA. Furthermore, PCFFA’s current executive director, Noah Oppenheim, was a staffer for U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (D-CA), one of the policymakers who led calls in 2017 for former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to investigate ExxonMobil to determine if the company misled the public and its investors on climate change.
The lawsuit has divided members of the trade association, with some speaking out about the hypocrisy of suing fossil fuel companies for producing the very products they rely on to power their fishing boats. As one fisherman and association member pointed out:
“‘How do we run our engines without oil? How do we fish without oil? Electricity? I’m a small vessel. I’m only 68 tons and my God, I don’t know how that would work.’” (emphasis added)
Bottom Line: This lawsuit is yet another cog in a politically motivated and national coordinated campaign, and it rightfully belongs in federal court. The ongoing effort by activists and lawyers to attack the industry and advance a political agenda is only tying up the courts with frivolous claims that will have no impact on climate change.
