Oil companies face first-ever wrongful death lawsuit over climate change

(CN) — A Washington woman on Thursday filed the first-ever wrongful death lawsuit seeking to hold major oil companies accountable for their role in exacerbating climate change, which she claims sparked an extreme heat wave that killed her mother, Julie Leon, in 2021.

In an 81-page complaint, Misti Leon accused ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and other fuel companies of waging “a campaign of deception” to downplay the risks of fossil fuel, despite clearly understanding the dangers of their product.

“As early as the 1950s — around the time Julie was born — defendants knew that their fossil fuel products were already altering the Earth’s atmosphere,” Leon said in her lawsuit.

Leon also claimed that climate change driven by oil companies was primarily responsible for the Pacific Northwest “heat dome,” a historic and unprecedented weather event that caused her mother’s death.

“Julie is a victim of defendants’ conduct. Her lifespan is a bridge between cause and effect,” Leon stated in her lawsuit.

On June 28, 2021, Western Washington resident Julie Leon was driving home from a doctor’s appointment when temperatures spiked. Without air conditioning in her car, Leon was overwhelmed by the sudden heat while traveling through Seattle, and she pulled off the highway, onto a residential street, where she lost consciousness.

According to the lawsuit, Julie was so incapacitated by the effects of the heat that she was unable to call for help. Roughly two hours later, she was discovered by a passerby in her car, unresponsive and hot to the touch.

Julie’s internal temperature was 110 degrees Fahrenheit when she died. The official cause of death was hyperthermia.

An estimated 1,400 people died during the 2021 Pacific Northwest “heat dome,” a 27-day heat wave across Washington, Oregon and British Columbia, where summer temperatures topped out at 30 degrees above normal. Experts say the heat dome would have been “virtually impossible” without human-driven climate change.

Misti Leon accuses the fossil fuel companies of intentionally sowing uncertainty about climate science, forming** and funding front groups to conceal the dangers of their fossil fuel products and deceiving the public and consumers about the severity of climate change to boost profits.

Leon also said that the companies’ “misconduct” delayed meaningful climate measures that could have prevented the worst of the heat dome and avoided her mother’s death.

“Defendants’ own actions to protect themselves from the impacts of climate change demonstrate that society would, at a minimum, have been better prepared for events like the 2021 Heat Dome if defendants had not misled consumers about the risks of their fossil fuel products,” Leon said in her lawsuit.

In terms of relief, Leon is asking the court for a jury trial as well as monetary damages, although she didn’t specify an amount.

Leon is also asking the court for a public education campaign to rectify the “decades of misinformation” perpetuated by the oil companies. However, it was unclear if she is asking the court to order the defendants to merely fund the campaign as opposed to overseeing or executing it.

Notably, Leon clarified she would not ask the court for any order restricting or regulating the sale or use of fossil fuels, nor any relief that would restrain the companies from engaging in “non-deceptive” speech about climate change.

This case was filed in the King County Superior Court of Washington.