Climate Liability News Wiles
see EID2 attacks
Gobercaller, EID walrath etc go after kert Davies CIC on foia fees
==
REF SEP complaint
CLIMATE LAWSUIT PROMOTERS DINGED FOR FLOUTING STATE LAWS
AUGUST 22, 2019 | SPENCER WALRATH
THE ORGANIZATION BEHIND CLIMATE LIABILITY NEWS (CLN), A DARK MONEY ANTI-OIL AND GAS ACTIVIST WEBSITE SET UP TO PROMOTE CLIMATE LAWSUITS, MAY BE VIOLATING MARYLAND STATE LAW, ACCORDING TO THE :{DAILY CALLER:(style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:#ffff66;"):}:. A COMPLAINT FILED BY ATTORNEY CLETA MITCHELL ALLEGES THAT CLN’S PARENT ORGANIZATION FAILED TO REGISTER WITH ITS HOME STATE AND ASKS STATE OFFICIALS TO INVESTIGATE THE ORGANIZATION AND CONSIDER FINING THE GROUP AND ITS DIRECTORS FOR VIOLATING STATE LAW.
Climate Liability News is a project of Climate Communications and Law (CCL), a non-profit incorporated in Washington, D.C., onApril 26, 2017. The complaint provides evidence that CCL’s corporate status was revoked by D.C. as of May 19, 2019, but says CCL filed to have its status reinstated earlier this month after the revocation was brought to its attention.
Though CCL is incorporated in D.C., its business address is located in Frederick, Maryland, and a November 2018 filing with the IRS states that it conducts business in Maryland. Mitchell notes in her complaint: 49 pp https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/20190820095056.pdf
“Maryland law requires all business entities, including non-stock corporations, doing business in the state of Maryland to register with the Department of Assessments and Taxation…Any corporation formed under the laws of a jurisdiction other than Maryland must register as a foreign business in the state of Maryland prior to doing any interstate or foreign business in Maryland…No such registration has been filed by Climate Communications & Law.” (emphasis added)
The complaint calls on the Maryland Secretary of State and the Director of the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation tofine CCL for failing to register and to “initiate proceedings for misdemeanor violations of Maryland law against the individual directors of the organization, Kert Davies, Richard Wiles, and Alyssa Johl,” which could result in individual fines.
Davies, Wiles, and Johl are all central figures of the climate liability campaign against energy companies through CCL and affiliated groups. Davies, for instance, runs the shadowyClimate Investigations Center and has spent over 20 years digging through energy company files in hopes of finding evidence of something that could lead to legal action. Davies also participated in the infamous January 2016 strategy session hosted by the Rockefellers where activists laid out their plans to expand the #ExxonKnew controversy into legal action against the broader oil and gas sector.
Wiles and Johl are the leaders of the Center for Climate Integrity, another shadowy group that has engaged in a massive PR campaign to promote climate liability litigation. The Rockefeller-funded group has hosted panels promoting the lawsuits, released a report designed to pressure coastal cities into suing energy companies, purchased billboards advocating for climate litigation, and produced a podcast to amplify activists (including Kert Davies).
Wiles also hired a lobbyist in Florida to arrange meetings between public officials and the lawyers seeking additional plaintiffs for their climate lawsuits. The lobbyist told Ft. Lauderdale city officials that his client, Wiles, “was trying to collaborate with” the lawyers representing other cities in their climate liability lawsuits, according to emails obtained by the :{Florida Record:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:. Neither Wiles nor any representatives of his organizations are recorded attending any of the meetings arranged by the lobbyist. The lobbyist did not reply to the Florida Record’s multiple requests for comment on the discrepancy of being hired by one group to lobby for another.
The complaint against CCL is not the first evidence that has surfaced of climate litigation activists appearing to sidestep state laws. The *Washington Free Beacon* reported last year that a representative ofSher Edling,a law firm representing multiple plaintiffs in climate liability lawsuits against energy producers, asked Miami Beach officials to move their conversations offline, specifically to prevent their communications from being made public.
Emails obtained [FOIA? FEES?] by the Free Beacon show Sher Edling’s Charles Savitt emailing two Miami Beach officials to schedule an appointment, adding, “Given state law, let’s talk rather than me send you anything.” That email was followed by an even more explicit message: “Given public records laws it is much better for us to talk on the phone.”
complaint 49 pp ~ wiles
https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/20190820095056.pdf
fail to reg as foreign, charitable, demand enforecemEnt action
F&G ltrhead
https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2022/04/19/ninth-circuit-deals-latest-blow-big-oil-ruling-california-climate-lawsuits
for Immediate Release
Tuesday April 19, 2022,
Contact
Mike Meno, Center for Climate Integrity, mike@climateintegrity.org
PRESS RELEASE
Ninth Circuit Deals Latest Blow to Big Oil, Ruling that California Climate Lawsuits Belong in State Court
Three Federal Appeals Courts Have Now Handed Major Losses to Fossil Fuel Companies After the U.S. Supreme Court Ordered Expanded Review of Big Oil’s Arguments for Federal Jurisdiction
WASHINGTON -
Lawsuits from six California cities and counties seeking to hold major oil and gas companies — including ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, and Shell — accountable for the cost of climate damages they knowingly caused should proceed in state court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled today.
The unanimous ruling from a three-judge panel means that the counties of San Mateo, Marin, and Santa Cruz, and the cities of Imperial Beach, Richmond, and Santa Cruz are now one key step closer to putting oil majors on trial for deceiving the public about their role in climate change.
The Ninth Circuit decision marks the third time this year that a federal appeals court has rejected arguments from the oil industry to move climate liability lawsuits filed in state court to federal courtfollowing a 2021 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
At least ten federal district courts have similarly ruled that climate accountability lawsuits filed in state court belong in state court — “a batting average of .000” for the fossil fuel industry, in the words of one judge.
In response, Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, released the following statement:
“This is another big, but not surprising, loss for the oil and gas majors. Three federal appeals courts have now agreed that their arguments to escape accountability in state court do not pass muster. This ruling is a major victory for these California communities seeking their day in court against corporate polluters that spent decades lying about their products’ role in fueling the climate crisis.”
Background:
Earlier this year, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and the Fourth Circuit issued similar rulings in climate accountability lawsuits from communities in Colorado and Maryland, respectively.
Four other federal circuit courts across the country are considering similar arguments from Exxon and other oil and gas companies, which have repeatedly lost efforts to move climate accountability lawsuits out of state court.
Since 2017, the attorneys general of Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the District of Columbia, as well as 20 city and county governments in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, and Washington, have filed lawsuits to hold major oil and gas companies accountable for deceiving the public about their products’ role in climate change.