By Christopher E. Appel, Shook Hardy & Bacon (November 19, 2012)

Lawsuits seeking to hold American businesses liable for weather-related injuries allegedly made worse by global climate change have suffered a series of defeats over the past several years at the hands of the Supreme Court of the United States and other federal courts. These courts have rejected climate change litigation on various legal grounds, each time casting further doubt as to the viability of suing someone under tort law for global weather changes. One case, however, lingers in the Fifth Circuit, providing what may be the last chance for climate change litigation advocates in the face of otherwise broad rejection of tort liability.