Daughter Sues, Says Oil Companies Killed Her Mother

The New York Times reports on the first lawsuit of its kind in regard to climate change: A woman sued seven oil companies in Washington state this week over the death of her mother during a heat wave in 2021.

• Misti Leon sued Exxon Mobil; Chevron; Shell, BP; ConocoPhillips; Phillips 66; and Olympic Pipeline Company, a subsidiary managed by BP, alleging that they long knew of the damage they were doing to the planet but failed to warn the public. In fact, they worked to hide the evidence, the suit alleges.

• Leon's 65-year-old mother, Juliana Leon, died of hyperthermia, or overheating, on a day when the temperature reached 108 degrees during a June heat wave in the Pacific Northwest.
• The Times' David Gelles writes that "legal scholars have been anticipating the filing of a case like this years." A 2023 paper in the Harvard Environmental Law Review laid the groundwork, asserting that oil companies could be charged with "every type of homicide short of first-degree murder." The new lawsuit is a civil, not criminal, complaint.
• The companies either did not respond to requests for comment or said they could not comment on pending litigation. A previous story via Politico reported that allies of the oil industry launched a campaign earlier this year—complete with website—to fight back against a growing number of lawsuits being filed by state and local municipalities over climate change. The Leon case is unique in that it centers on an individual's death.

(More climate change stories.)