eschipul's Flickr photostream/Creative Commons

Hurricane Katrina victims have been granted permission to sue oil, coal and chemical companies for increasing the severity of the devastating hurricane by contributing to climate change.  The approval for the class-action lawsuit came from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and I’m eager to see the outcome as the ruling signals a new legal trend in which citizens can potentially hold corporations accountable for emitting greenhouse gases.

The ruling reverses the decision of the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Mississippi, which dismissed the case earlier.  The Court of Appeals argues that the 14 plaintiffs presented enough evidence against the companies to allow the lawsuit to proceed, explaining:

Here, the plaintiffs’ complaint alleges that defendants’ emissions caused the plaintiffs’ property damage, which is redressable through monetary damages; for example, the plaintiffs allege that defendants’ willful, unreasonable use of their property to emit greenhouse gasses constituted private nuisance under Mississippi law because it inflicted injury on the plaintiffs’ land by causing both land loss due to sea level rise and property damage due to Hurricane Katrina.

I’m hopeful that the victims will be able to find justice, and while the case may be a difficult one, I think their efforts will go a long way toward demanding accountability from companies that heedlessly contribute to climate change.  Use the action link below to find out what you can do to help combat the climate crisis.