National experts to discuss climate change and the courts at University of Richmond School of Law
November 9, 2007
Climate change, the most important environmental issue of our time, has landed in American courtrooms. Plaintiffs are suing electric utilities, auto manufacturers and other defendants alleging that their emissions of greenhouse gases are causing property damage and other losses. The cases are novel, and the judicial decisions will be groundbreaking.
Professors David Hunter and Jim Salzman, two of the nation's leading experts on litigation over climate change, will discuss current climate cases and future prospects at the University of Richmond School of Law Nov. 13 at 4 p.m. in the Moot Court Room. Their talk, "Climate Change in the Courts: Litigation, Liability and the Law," is sponsored by the law school's Robert R. Merhige, Jr. Center for Environmental Studies.
The program is free and open to the public. It has been approved for 1.5 MCLE credits. Light refreshments will follow the talk.
"Plaintiffs are suing over climate change for the same reasons they sue over chemical accidents or defective products," said Noah Sachs, assistant professor of law and director of the Merhige Center. "They want compensation, and they want to deter future harm. The question is, are U.S. courts the right forum to address this complex global problem?"
Sachs noted that the cases that have been filed thus far stretch existing legal doctrine and raise complicated issues of causation, measurement of damages, legal standing to sue and duties of corporate defendants.
"Hunter and Salzman will provide a play-by-play analysis of recent cases and provide context for how climate change litigation could spur the U.S. government and states into action."
Hunter is assistant professor at Washington College of Law, American University, where he directs the Program on International and Comparative Environmental Law. He is the former executive director of the Center for International Environmental Law and was an associate with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom. He serves on the boards of directors of the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide-U.S., EarthRights International, Project on Government Oversight, the Bank Information Center and Greenpeace-U.S.
Salzman is professor at Duke University School of Law. He holds joint appointments as the Samuel F. Mordecai Professor of Law and the Nicholas Institute Professor of Environmental Policy at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences. In more than 50 articles, his broad-ranging scholarship has addressed topics spanning trade and environmental conflicts, the history of drinking water, environmental protection in the service economy, wetlands mitigation banking, and the legal and institutional issues involved in creating markets for ecosystem services.
Hunter and Salzman are co-authors of a widely used law school casebook, "International Environmental Law and Policy."