Santa Cruz
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1.18 city on a hill sc joined san mateo, marin, imperial beach to sue 29 ff
anthony condotti esq
h</font><a href="https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2017/12/20/california-climate-lawsuit-santa-cruz/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: small; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">ttps://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2017/12/20/california-climate-lawsuit-santa-cruz/</font></a><p class="jp-relatedposts-post jp-relatedposts-post2" data-post-id="2879" data-post-format="false" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 20px; overflow: hidden; float: left; width: 750px; clear: both; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="jp-relatedposts-post-title" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: block; max-width: 90%; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span><span class="jp-relatedposts-post-title" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: block; max-width: 90%; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">12/17</font></span><span class="jp-relatedposts-post-title" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: block; max-width: 90%; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-size: small; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-size: small; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-size: small; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">city and county of Santa Cruz joined the growing number of California communities seeking to hold fossil fuel companies responsible for the impacts of climate change, filing two new lawsuits in California Superior Court on Wednesday.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-size: small; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The latest suits, however, go further than previous ones, calling on restitution from the fossil fuel industry not just for the impacts of sea level rise, but also damages to the hydrologic cycle and its resulting increase in severe weather, drought and wildfires.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-size: small; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“With miles of coastlines and steep, forested mountains, Santa Cruz County is particularly vulnerable to impacts from climate change,” County Supervisor Ryan Coonerty said in a statement. “It’s time for Big Oil, who chose profit over people and the environment, to be held responsible. It’s time for oil companies to pay for the damage they’ve caused, rather than ask local residents to pick up all the costs associated with protecting us from sea level rise, increasing fires, and severe weather.”</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-size: small; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">The latest suits target 29 companies, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP and Shell, and are led by the same law firm, Sher Edling, leading the lawsuits </span><a href="https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2017/09/22/sea-level-rise-san-mateo-marin-imperial-beach-lawsuit/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">filed this summer </a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">by San Mateo and Marin counties and the city of Imperial Beach. Like the previous suits, they are filed in state court and seek compensatory and punitive damages. They allege a list of claims, including public nuisance, liability for failure to warn, design defect, negligence and trespass.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-size: small; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">“Defendants, major corporate members of the fossil fuel industry, have known for </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">nearly a half century that unrestricted production and use of their fossil fuel products create </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">greenhouse gas pollution that warms the planet and changes our climate,” <a href="https://www.sheredling.com/climate-change-pr/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">the complaint</a> reads. “They have known for decades that those impacts could be catastrophic and that only a narrow window existed to take action before the consequences would be irreversible. They have nevertheless engaged in a coordinated, multi-front effort to conceal and deny their own knowledge of those threats, discredit the growing body of publicly available scientific evidence, and persistently create doubt in the minds of customers, consumers, regulators, the media, journalists, teachers, and the public about the reality and consequences of the impacts of their fossil fuel pollution.”</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-size: small; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">The companies petitioned to have the earlier suits, including two others </span><a href="https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2017/09/20/san-francisco-oakland-lawsuit-climate-change-bp-exxon-shell/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">filed by the cities of San Francisco and Oakland</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">, moved to federal court, a venue that in the past has been successful in fighting climate liability claims. The communities followed with petitions to keep them in state court. The lawsuits filed by the cities of San Francisco and Oakland, using different co-counsel, assert only a public nuisance claim and are </span><a href="https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2017/12/18/climate-lawsuits-liability-california/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">strongly directed toward staying</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> in state court, using similar claims once successfully filed against the lead paint industry in the state.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-size: small; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Santa Cruz, which lies about 30 miles south of San Jose on the California coast, has a population of about 60,000, with 260,000 in the metro area. Officials say about $742 million worth of infrastructure is at risk from sea level rise alone in the next decade. But it goes further than simply quantifying the risks of rising seas and enumerates risk from the drought and wildfires that scientists have increasingly linked to global warming.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-size: small; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">“These companies not only understood the consequences of fossil fuel use on global climate change, but their own scientists did much of the early, groundbreaking research, and issued detailed warnings decades ago,” Santa Cruz Mayor David Terrazas said in a statement. “The fact that they later worked hard to discredit the science is extremely troubling, and may well have delayed actions that could have prevented serious, global impacts. This lawsuit raises serious issues and deserves a full public discussio</span></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/01/12/exxon-pushes-back-oil-giant-seeks-to-depose-santa-cruz-city-county-officials/
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</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>In December, the city and county of Santa Cruz joined a wave of
coastal California communities suing fossil-fuel companies for
climate-change related damages.</b> On Monday, ExxonMobil pushed back
against what it called “abusive law enforcement tactics and litigation,”
threatening to file its own legal action and accusing the local
jurisdictions of hypocritically omitting reference to climate change
damages from their own bond disclosures.</span>
</font><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The stark and irreconcilable conflict between what these municipal
governments alleged in their respective complaints and what they
disclosed to investors in their bond offerings indicates that the
allegations in the complaints are not honestly held and were not made in
good faith,” reads the 60-page motion, which was filed Monday in a
Texas court.</font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Officials named by Exxon include Santa Cruz City Manager Martín
Bernal, City Attorney Anthony P. Condotti, Santa Cruz County Chief
Administrative Officer Carlos Palacios and County Counsel Dana McRae.
Exxon is seeking to depose — interview under oath — each official to
investigate a potential lawsuit, taking advantage of a uniquely flexible
Texan rule that allows pre-lawsuit depositions in certain cases.
Officials from San Francisco, Oakland, San Mateo County, Marin and
Imperial Beach are also named.</font></span></p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Condotti called the move by Exxon “a sham” and “obviously a pretext for harassment.”</font></span></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The notion that the city provided some misleading information in its
bond disclosures is preposterous,” Condotti told the Sentinel.</span></font></p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Exxon’s filing details a number of claims made in the respective
complaints filed in Santa Cruz County Superior Court on Dec. 20. Among
them are the county’s claim of a 98 percent likelihood of a three-foot
flood by 2050, and its estimate that $742 million in property is at risk
due to climate-change related storms, fires and floods.</font></span></p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“None of these dire and specific warnings of climate change-induced
sea level rise or wildfires appear in the disclosures provided to
investors in Santa Cruz City and County bond offerings,” Exxon’s
attorneys wrote, referencing recent bond disclosures filed by each
jurisdiction in 2016 and 2017, which detail relevant financial
information and how the bonds will be repaid. “Indeed, their disclosures
lack any express reference to climate change, global warming, or
changes in Santa Cruz’s hydrologic regime.”</font></span></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">City Manager Martín Bernal said that such information was not
included in the bond documents because they include only a near-future
snapshot of risks. He said he has not seen climate-change related
estimates on any such disclosures. If those projections were of interest
to investors, he said, the information is readily available on the city
website.</font></p><div id="div-gpt-ad-Cube_Article" class="dfp-ad dfp-Cube_Article" data-ad-unit="Cube_Article">
</div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The idea that somehow we’re conspiring or hiding just doesn’t make sense,” Bernal said.</font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Daniel Farber, who co-directs the UC Berkeley Center for Law, Energy
and the Environment, said in an email that he hadn’t reviewed the filing
in detail but that at first blush it didn’t appear as if Exxon had a
strong case.</font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Condotti said that while he believes Exxon’s claims are without
merit, he is not surprised by the development. “We’re filing this
lawsuit against 29 major international corporations,” he said. “The fact
that they would try to bring counter-actions or take other procedural
maneuvers is certainly something that we contemplated.”</font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The city’s ongoing lawsuit against the companies will be unaffected, he said. No date has been set for a hearing in that case.</font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
<b>On Tuesday, New York City joined the legal fray by filing its own
climate-change related lawsuit against Exxon, BP, Chevron,
Conoco-Phillips and Royal Dutch Shell</b>
</font><h3 class="r"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/01/10/exxon-california-climate-lawsuits/">Exxon launches legal retaliation for California climate suits</a></font></h3><div class="s"><div><div class="f kv SWb" style="white-space:nowrap"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><cite class="Rm bc">https://www.climateliabilitynews.org › Litigation</cite></font></div></div></div><div class="g"><div data-hveid="40" data-ved="0ahUKEwiJmOW8x-TYAhUO-2MKHenQCWIQFQgoKAAwAA"><div class="rc"><div class="s"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="st"><span class="f">Jan 10, 2018 - </span>Last July, the counties of <em>Marin</em> and <em>San Mateo</em> and the <em>city</em> of <em>Imperial Beach</em> filed separate, nearly identical complaints against 37 <em>fossil fuel</em> ... Most recently in December, the <em>city</em> and county of <em>Santa Cruz</em> sued <em>29</em> of the companies over a wider range of climate impacts such as drought and wildfire in ...</span></font></div></div></div></div></div><div class="g"><div data-hveid="47" data-ved="0ahUKEwiJmOW8x-TYAhUO-2MKHenQCWIQFQgvKAEwAQ"><div class="rc"><h3 class="r"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/01/12/exxon-pushes-back-oil-giant-seeks-to-depose-santa-cruz-city-county-officials/">Exxon pushes back: Oil giant seeks to depose Santa Cruz city, county ...</a></font></h3><div class="s"><div><div class="f kv SWb" style="white-space:nowrap"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><cite class="Rm">https://www.mercurynews.com/.../exxon-pushes-back-oil-giant-seeks-to-depose-santa-...</cite></font></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="g"><div data-hveid="47" data-ved="0ahUKEwiJmOW8x-TYAhUO-2MKHenQCWIQFQgvKAEwAQ"><div class="rc"><div class="s"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="st"><span class="f">Jan 12, 2018 - </span><em>SANTA CRUZ</em> – In December, the <em>city</em> and county of <em>Santa Cruz joined</em> a wave of coastal California communities <em>suing fossil</em>-<em>fuel</em> companies for climate-change related damages. On Monday ... Officials from San Francisco, Oakland, <em>San Mateo</em> County, <em>Marin</em> and <em>Imperial Beach</em> are also named. <em>Condotti</em> ...</span></font></div></div></div></div></div><div class="g"><div data-hveid="53" data-ved="0ahUKEwiJmOW8x-TYAhUO-2MKHenQCWIQFQg1KAIwAg"><div class="rc"><h3 class="r"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/legalnewsline/2018/01/08/exxon-prepares-to-sue-california-cities-say-they-contradict-themselves-on-climate-change/">Exxon Prepares To Sue California Cities, Says They Contradict ...</a></font></h3><div class="s"><div><div class="f kv SWb" style="white-space:nowrap"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><cite class="Rm">https://www.forbes.com/.../exxon-prepares-to-sue-california-cities-say-they-contradict...</cite></font></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="g"><div data-hveid="53" data-ved="0ahUKEwiJmOW8x-TYAhUO-2MKHenQCWIQFQg1KAIwAg"><div class="rc"><div class="s"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="st"><span class="f">Jan 8, 2018 - </span>In 2017, the counties of <em>Marin</em>, <em>Santa Cruz</em> and <em>San Mateo</em> and the <em>cities</em> of San Francisco, Oakland, <em>Santa Cruz</em> and <em>Imperial Beach</em> filed suit against dozens of energy companies, including <em>Exxon</em> and 17 other Texas-based businesses, over climate change. The company has previously been targeted by ...</span></font></div></div></div></div></div><div class="g"><div data-hveid="59" data-ved="0ahUKEwiJmOW8x-TYAhUO-2MKHenQCWIQFQg7KAMwAw"><div class="rc"><h3 class="r"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09012018/exxon-california-coastal-cities-climate-change-damages-lawsuit-texas-court">Exxon Pushes Back on California Cities Suing It Over Climate Change ...</a></font></h3><div class="s"><div><div class="f kv SWb" style="white-space:nowrap"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><cite class="Rm">https://insideclimatenews.org/.../exxon-california-coastal-cities-climate-change-damag...</cite></font></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="g"><div data-hveid="59" data-ved="0ahUKEwiJmOW8x-TYAhUO-2MKHenQCWIQFQg7KAMwAw"><div class="rc"><div class="s"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="st"><span class="f">Jan 9, 2018 - </span><em>Exxon</em> and 36 other <em>fossil fuel</em> companies became the target last year of civil lawsuits by four coastal <em>cities</em> and three counties in California that demand the ... "<wbr />The information in the complaint as to impacts of climate change on the <em>City</em> of <em>Santa Cruz</em> are well-documented, including in the <em>City's</em> 2011 climate ...</span></font></div></div></div></div></div><div class="g"><div data-hveid="65" data-ved="0ahUKEwiJmOW8x-TYAhUO-2MKHenQCWIQFQhBKAQwBA"><div class="rc"><h3 class="r"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="ogd b w xsm">[PDF]</span><a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/ExxonDepositions.pdf">EXXON MOBIL CORPORATION, Petitioner. IN THE DISTRICT COURT ...</a></font></h3><div class="s"><div><div class="f kv _SWb" style="white-space:nowrap"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><cite class="Rm">https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/.../ExxonDepositions.pdf</cite></font></div></div></div></div></div></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="st"><span class="f">Jan 8, 2018 - </span>(“<em>ExxonMobil</em>”) petitions the Court for an order authorizing it to conduct depositions and obtain documents ..... Respondent <em>Anthony</em> P. <em>Condotti</em> is the <em>City Attorney</em> for the <em>City</em> of <em>Santa Cruz</em> ..... <em>Imperial Beach</em>, Oakland, and <em>San Mateo</em> have each issued bonds with a Texas-based underwriter, paying agent,.</span>
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