Document Type

Article

Publication Title

University of Pennsylvania Law Review

Publication Date

6-2007

ISSN

0041-9907

Page Number

1657

Keywords

environmental policy, climatic changes, tobacco industry

Disciplines

Environmental Law | Health Law and Policy | Law

Abstract

A recent series of climate change lawsuits has sought to mimic the "regulation through litigation" approach of the claims brought by the states against cigarette manufacturers. What is distinctive about the cigarette cases relative to conventional tort claims is that they were not brought on behalf of individual smokers, but rather sought to recoup the Medicaid-related costs of smoking. A parallel climate change litigation approach seeks payments from public utilities, energy producers, and other parties responsible for greenhouse gas emissions to reflect the long-term societal damages that the plaintiffs claim will be caused by this pollution. While environmental litigation of this type is unprecedented, the cigarette cases were novel as well. The cigarette litigation did not establish legal precedents because the cases were settled without any court verdicts, but the threat of the suits was sufficiently real that it led to damages payments of close to $250 billion. Here we examine the similarities and differences between lawsuits seeking to recoup the value of financial externalities caused by smoking and lawsuits targeted at the value of environmental damages due to global warming.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.