Bucks County commissioners violated Pennsylvania law earlier this year when they failed to discuss a proposal to pursue climate litigation in a public meeting according to new legal filings by defendant companies.
As noted in previous PCCJR newsletters, Bucks County decided to jump on the national climate litigation trend this past spring. The County Commissioners filed a suit in the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas against BP, ConocoPhillips, Shell, Chevron, Exxon and the American Petroleum Institute in an attempt to seek damages for the effects of climate change. The commissioners have hired outside counsel (DiCello Levitt) to argue their case in court. (Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo later withdrew his support of the lawsuit.)
The issue raised in the defendants’ motion to dismiss centers on the notion that the commissioners did not deliberate or vote to move forward with the climate litigation in a public meeting. According to the motion, this lack of action violates a Pennsylvania law requiring “official action” to be voted on in a public meeting.
You can read more about this latest twist in the litigation in this Legal Newsline article.