WARMING RULING COULD HAVE BROAD IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENTAL TORT SUITS

A federal judge's decision last week dismissing a landmark climate change lawsuit because it represented a "political question" could undermine a host of toxic tort claims that courts consider to be political issues, including pending cases addressing contamination caused by the fuel additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), environmentalists and some legal experts say. Because of this concern, the plaintiffs in State of Connecticut, et al. v. American Electric Power, et al. are planning an appeal to the U.S. Court...