Steve Berman ESQ climate

ref in imperial oil exxon cda artl

Steve W. Berman is an American plaintiff's lawyer and entrepreneur who founded and is Managing Partner of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, a 76-attorney law firm based in Seattle, Washington.^[1][2][3]

Early life and education

Steve Berman was born in 1955^[4] in Seattle, Washington,^[5] and was raised mostly in Highland Park, Illinois.^[6] His father ran an insurance company^[6] that sold policies for security guards and police officers.^[7] Berman was drafted into U.S. military service for the Vietnam War in 1972, but the war ended before Berman was sent to serve.^[8] Berman completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan in 1976.^[9] He earned his Juris Doctor in law from the University of Chicago Law School in 1980.^[6][9][10]

Career

Early career

After graduating, Berman worked for Jenner & Block, then Shidler McBroom Gates & Lucas, which later became K&L Gates. He represented plaintiffs in some of the first sexual harassment lawsuits in Washington. His interest in class-action lawsuits began in 1989, after winning an $850 million settlement for investors that provided bonds for a failed nuclear power plant project. He then worked for Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann, who acted as co-counsel on the lawsuit, and later for Betts Patterson & Mines.^[8] At the time, he focused on shareholder lawsuits representing shareholders against big Seattle companies.^[8][7]

Hagens Berman and big tobacco

In 1993, Berman's employer decided not to take on a case against Jack in the Box for allegedly exaggerating to investors regarding the quality of the company's food before causing an e-coli outbreak.^[7][4] The law firm was worried taking the case would harm its relationships with insurance companies they help defend. In response, Berman left and started his own firm, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, with four partners and a few associates, so they could pursue the Jack in the Box case.^[8] The case settled two years later for $12 million.^[4][6] By 2014, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP had 80 employees and 9 offices.^[10]

The law firm continued to use class-action lawsuits to target "social ills or corporate malfeasance."^[8] Berman became known for his work in the 1990s against big tobacco companies.^[6][9] At the time, most people believed tobacco companies could not be held liable for health problems associated with their products.^[6] After six years of litigation, where Berman represented 14 of 46 U.S. states that participated, the case was settled in 1996 for $206 billion.^[6][9][10] Washington CEO Magazine estimated he will receive a total of $100 million,^[7] while an article in the Irish Times estimated Berman's share was $10 million per-year for 25 years.^[9]

The firm suffered a setback in 2006 when it was ordered to pay $10.8 million to three small water-bottling companies in Maine. Hagens Berman had originally represented the bottlers in a lawsuit about water quality. But when the companies wanted to accept an out-of-court settlement offer, the law firm decided to instead pursue class action lawsuits over the objection of the bottlers. A jury found that the firm had been disloyal to its original clients.^[2]

Later work

Berman has continued to pursue class-action lawsuits against large companies.^[4] He won a $215 million settlement from Enron related to lost employee pensions after the Enron scandal^[7][6] and $1.6 billion from Volkswagen related to the Volkswagen emissions scandal on behalf of car owners.^[6] He won $1.63 billion from Toyota related to sudden unintended acceleration in certain Toyota vehicles. Berman also sued the National Collegiate Athletic Association for their response to athlete concussions^[10] and for allegedly violating antitrust laws by prohibiting athletes from getting compensated.^[8] Berman has also sued pharmaceutical companies for alleged price-fixing, SeaWorld for its treatment of orcas, and the makers of Butterfinger for its alleged use of child labor.^[4]

In the late 2010s, Berman started lawsuits against big oil companies, accusing them of causing climate change, on behalf of coastal towns and others affected by rising water levels. The lawsuits use similar reasoning as the tobacco lawsuits in the 1990s, alleging oil companies willfully misled the public about the environmental harms of their product.^[6]

Personal life

Berman is married and has three children.^[9] He is a triathlete,^[7] cyclist, and a referee for youth soccer.^[4]

References

^ Modie, Neil (August 2, 2006). "McGavick sued over Safeco payout". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
^ :{Jump up to::(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^a ^b(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman_%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-SeattlePI_2-1) Ho, Vanessa; Lewis, Mike (March 4, 2006). "Seattle law firm told to pay $10.8 million". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
^ "MVP: Hagens Berman's Steve W. Berman". Law360. December 10, 2018.
^ :{Jump up to::(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^a ^b(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-Garde_2017_4-1) ^c(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-Garde_2017_4-2) ^d(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-Garde_2017_4-3) ^e(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-Garde_2017_4-4) ^f(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman_%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-Garde_2017_4-5) Garde, Damian (April 20, 2017). "The lawyer who took on Big Tobacco and Enron is now going after Big Pharma for 'gouging' the American consumer". Business Insider. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
^ Donaghy, Kathy (July 18, 2001). ":{'Big tobacco' action could earn £18 billion":(style="padding-left:0.2em"):}:. independent. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
^ :{Jump up to::(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^a ^b(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-Dembicki_2017_6-1) ^c(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-Dembicki_2017_6-2) ^d(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-Dembicki_2017_6-3) ^e(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-Dembicki_2017_6-4) ^f(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-Dembicki_2017_6-5) ^g(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-Dembicki_2017_6-6) ^h(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-Dembicki_2017_6-7) ⁱ(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-Dembicki_2017_6-8) ^j(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman_%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-Dembicki_2017_6-9) Dembicki, Geoff (December 22, 2017). "Meet the Lawyer Trying to Make Big Oil Pay for Climate Change". VICE. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
^ :{Jump up to::(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^a ^b(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-Spokesman_7-1) ^c(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-Spokesman_7-2) ^d(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-Spokesman_7-3) ^e(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-Spokesman_7-4) ^f(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman_%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-Spokesman_7-5) Dorn, Karen (August 3, 2003). "Lawyer usually smokes competition; Berman representing thousands in field-burning case". Spokesman Review. p. A.1.
^ :{Jump up to::(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^a ^b(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-law360_8-1) ^c(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-law360_8-2) ^d(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-law360_8-3) ^e(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-law360_8-4) ^f(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman_%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-law360_8-5) Boysen, Ryan. "Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Hagens Berman's Steve Berman". Law360. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
^ :{Jump up to::(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^a ^b(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-irishtimes_9-1) ^c(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-irishtimes_9-2) ^d(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-irishtimes_9-3) ^e(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-irishtimes_9-4) ^f(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman_%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-irishtimes_9-5) Fahy, Declan (July 21, 2001). "Man who won in US advises Irish to take on tobacco giants; Anti-smoking litigants have a good chance of succeeding, says the man who won in the US courts". Irish Times. p. 8.
^ :{Jump up to::(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^a ^b(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-Bloomberg.com_2014_10-1) ^c(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-Bloomberg.com_2014_10-2) ^d(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berman_%28lawyer%29#cite_ref-Bloomberg.com_2014_10-3) Lee, Patrick (March 7, 2014). "NCAA Faces Legal Push Led by Litigator With Tobacco Stash". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved March 10, 2021.

External links

biography - on firm website

Categories:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/43qw3j/meet-the-lawyer-trying-to-make-big-oil-pay-for-climate-change

Meet the Lawyer Trying to Make Big Oil Pay for Climate Change

The attorney who won a $200 billion settlement from tobacco companies in the 90s has set his sights on an even bigger target.

By Geoff Dembicki

December 21, 2017,

...Berman went to law school and moved out to Seattle, where he got hired by a firm that mostly did defense work for companies in industries like insurance. Berman was part of a smaller team at the firm that sued companies instead.In 1993, he met with a parent whose child had lost a kidney after eating at Jack in the Box and getting food poisoning. “I remember sitting in the room thinking, ‘This could have been my kid,’” he said. “I was so choked up I could barely talk.” His superiors at the firm didn’t want to take the case. “So I said, ‘I’m out of here.”

}::{

Berman and a colleague Carl Hagens formed their own firm, Hagens Berman. He’d wanted to set out on his own for some time and here was the perfect excuse. Two years later they settled with Jack in the Box for $12 million.

That case was tiny compared to what came next. In 1996, Washington’s attorney general hired Berman’s new firm to represent the state in a wave of public health lawsuits against tobacco companies. Soon Berman represented 13 states. “The quiet youthful [lawyer] worked brutal hours to make up for his firm’s small size, arriving at his office at six AM and staying until nine or ten PM six days a week,” reads the book *Civil Warriors: The Legal Siege on the Tobacco Industry*. His law partner was skeptical, according to Berman. “He was afraid we would lose the case,” he said. “If we devoted all our time to a losing effort and we didn’t have any income we could go under.”

It was a legitimate concern. By then hundreds of tobacco lawsuits had failed. Cigarette makers argued smoking was a personal choice. They pointed to research—often funded by the tobacco industry —casting doubt on the link between cigarettes and cancer. But several factors aligned to make the industry vulnerable to litigation.

A series of whistleblowers revealed that tobacco companies knew smoking is addictive and causes cancer. Secret corporate documents showed companies did market research on how to target childrenwith ads and branding.Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore filed a lawsuit demanding tobacco companies pay the healthcare costs of smokers who’d become sick. And by 1998, 46 states were demanding the same.

Berman gave the opening statement at the trial in Washington in front of hundreds of people who had crowded into a Seattle courthouse. “I had a big poster that said, ‘The Industry’s Five Big Lies,’ and I went through each one,” he recalled. By then the industry was ready to surrender. Berman, Moore and others had been holding meetings with its leaders to negotiate the terms. On November, 1998, Big tobacco officially agreed to pay $206 billion to 46 states. It received immunity from lawsuits similar to the ones led by Moore and Berman. Yet it was still a massive victory. “We were pretty damn happy,” he said.

How can you prove that oil dug out of the ground by Exxon is causing a tiny Alaskan village to disappear?

Berman now had a game plan for defeating powerful industries: Accuse them of misleading the public to protect revenues, then find plaintiffs who are suffering the consequences. In the late 2000s, he heard about a coastal village in Alaska called Kivalina that would have to be relocated because of rising oceans. The move could cost up to $400 million, according to his lawsuit, and the Army Corps of Engineers said climate change is to blame. Berman sued Exxon, Chevron, BP, ConocoPhillips, and 20 other fossil fuel producers on behalf of the villagers, arguing these companies spread doubt and confusion about climate change knowing communities such as Kivalina are in danger. Exxon, for instance, had run full-page New York Times ads about “unsettled science."

"You’re not asking the court to evaluate the reasonableness of the conduct… You’re asking a court to evaluate if somebody conspired to lie,” Berman told :{The Atlantic:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: at the time.

Berman flew to Kivalina at one point. The village is built on an island off the west coast of Alaska. Its 400 or so indigenous residents had watched helplessly as shoreline disappeared, winter storms got fiercer, and waves lapped closer to the school. There was a pervasive feeling of despair. “The island is sad, sad that it’s going away,” he said. The magnitude of climate change hit him on the flight home. “You could see acres of dying trees from the pine bark beetle,” he said. “That was really striking.” A federal court dismissed the lawsuit, deciding that who’s to blame for climate change is a job best left to entities like Congress or the White House. But the real issue was causation. How can you prove that oil dug out of the ground by Exxon is causing a tiny Alaskan village to disappear?

}::{

“There is no realistic possibility of tracing any particular alleged effect of global warming to any particular emissions by any specific person, entity, group at any particular point in time,” wrote US District Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong. It’s a tough obstacle to surmount. “In climate change there’s a lot of diffuse actors,” said the University of Calgary’s Olszynski. “It’s not just the oil companies.”

}::{

But there are several reasons Berman’s new lawsuit against big oil could be more successful. Whereas Kivalina was filed in federal court, he wants to represent the cities of San Francisco and Oakland in California state court, which he thinks may be less likely to decide the case raises political questions outside of its jurisdiction. And, he added, “Some people believe that there are more conservative judges on the federal bench.” The defense team for big oil is fighting to get the suit heard federally. The case was “going to be mired down for the next three or four months in a procedural battle,” Berman predicted.

there have also been big leaps in climate science. Researchers like Richard Heede have calculated that close to two-thirds of greenhouse gases emitted over the last 150 years can be traced back to just 90 companies. Exxon, Chevron, BP, Shell and ConocoPhillips are in the top ten. “We have better science,” Berman argued. “We think causation will be easier to prove.”

Financial damages from climate change are also more quantifiable.San Francisco estimates sea-level rise could threaten $49 billion in property. “The major coastal cities in America and abroad have people worried about this,” he said. “That’s a big advancement since the Kivalina case.”

}::{

Incriminating oil industry documents, meanwhile, continue to surface. A report released in mid-November by the Center for International Environmental Law has new evidence that big oil was warned about the risks of global temperature rise nearly 50 years ago. “There seems to be no doubt that the potential damage to our environment could be severe,” explains a 1969 study prepared for the American Petroleum Institute by two Stanford scientists. This wasn’t a one-off thing. “From the late 1960s onwards up into the 80s those warnings from their own scientists grew more and more urgent,” Muffett, the November report’s co-author, told me. An internal Exxon memo from 1981 states that carbon emissions could “produce effects which will indeed be catastrophic—at least for a substantial fraction of the earth’s population.” By then the company had calculated that reducing its carbon footprint would hurt revenues. Internally, the industry began to protect itself from climate change. Companies designed taller offshore oilrigs and pipelines able to withstand melting permafrost. “[They] had a responsibility to warn the public,” Muffett said. Instead, Exxon, BP, Chevron and Shell formed a group known as the Global Climate Coalition that argued climate science “is not well understood” into the 90s.

}::{

These are clear parallels to the cancer-denying days of big tobacco. But in recent years the comparison has become harder to make. Big oil now publicly admits the existence of climate change. “Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a global issue that requires global engagement and action,” a Chevron spokesperson wrote to me. Berman must convince a court that earlier industry denial campaigns created lasting damage. Even with better science, questions of responsibility still loom. “In the case of global climate change, a molecule of carbon is literally around the world in seven days,” Scott Segal, an attorney who defends energy companies, told the *Washington Post* in July. “The requisite causation needed for nuisance suits is missing and unprovable.”

}::{

That’s how the law has traditionally viewed things. Yet a recent ruling in California against lead paint companies suggests the law’s view on causation is evolving. “This may not sound like it has anything to do with climate change,” Olszynski told me, “but it does.” For 17 years, three paint companies—ConAgra, NL Industries, and Sherwin-Williams—argued in court that the lead paint they manufactured couldn’t be linked to specific houses where people got sick. But last month the California Court of Appeals ruled that their marketing “implied lead paint was safe,” even though the companies knew it was not. “That’s a really important point,” Olszynski explained. It could mean there’s a stronger case that oil companies are legally responsible for sea-rise damage in San Francisco and Oakland. They marketed and sold a product that they knew is causing climate change.

}::{

You could make the same argument about the coal industry. Or carmakers such as General Motors. “If the oil company took the barrel of oil out of the ground but it was consumed in the car, how do you apportion liability?” Olszynski asked. But he thinks that the legal fight against tobacco companies provides a case study for how these types of challenges can be beaten. “Guys like Steve were like visionaries,” he argued. “That’s an important story because it talks about the speed to which the legal system can change.”

}::{

As far as Berman is concerned the story isn’t over. On climate change he thinks it’s just getting started. If a judge decides his case can be heard—a big if, considering that no lawsuit against big oil has made it to that stage—then Berman can call on Exxon, BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips and Chevron to make internal reports and research into climate change available. “[I’m] dying to get to those documents,” he said. “I’m convinced they’re going to be smoking hot.”

}::{

As our interview came to a close I asked Berman to describe the best-case scenario for all this. “Imagine if I could get ten or 15 cities to all sue and put the same pressure on the oil companies that we did with tobacco companies and create some kind of massive settlement,” he said. He acted as if it was the first time he’d thought of the idea. But I got the feeling it wasn’t.

}::{

Geoff Dembicki is the author of Are We Screwed? How a New Generation is Fighting to Survive Climate Change. Follow him on Twitter.

walrath 12/17

Several California communities have recently brought suits as part of a larger political campaign to attack the oil and gas industry, but a profile of one of the lawyers leading the cases published by VICE this morning leaves no question about the motive of these cases. The plaintiffs aren’t seeking to protect themselves from climate change; they’re trying to “bring down the fossil fuel companies.”

VICE’s article profiles Steve Berman of the notorious anti-corporate law firm Hagens Berman. VICE ticks off Berman’s accomplishments:

He forced Jack-in-the-Box to pay $12 million for causing an E. coli outbreak that killed four children. He won a $215 million settlement against Enron for defrauding investors and wiping out employee retirement accounts. He represented auto dealers in a $1.6 billion lawsuit against Volkswagen for cheating on diesel emissions.

Berman is best known, though, for suing big tobacco in the 1990s. At the end of that fight, he helped negotiate a $206 billion settlement from cigarette makers like Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, and Brown & Williamson for causing cancer. It remains the largest legal settlement of its kind in history.

Somehow VICE forgot to mention the time Hagens Berman had to pay $10.8 million to its own clients[not named, botl water unsafe?] after it was judged that they failed to act in their clients’ best interest. The firm was also fined for “bad faith advocacy” after a U.S. District judge ruled that Hagens Berman had moved forward with several cases even though they knew the cases were “baseless.” The judge said that one of Hagens Berman’s allegations “gives new meaning to ‘frivolous.’”

Turning to his lawsuits against the oil and gas industry, VICE continues:

The stakes are even higher in his big oil lawsuit. Berman is not just trying to get oil companies to pay for seawalls in the Bay Area. In a broader sense he’s attempting to hold them responsible for endangering all human life on earth. “This is different in kind from anything else,” Timothy Crosland, the director of a UK-based climate law group called Plan B, told me. “Once you get started, you get one case that goes through, this is an avalanche. It’s got the potential really to bring down the fossil fuel companies.” (emphasis added)

That’s what this is and always has been about. Santa Cruz and San Francisco may be legitimately concerned about the effects of climate change on their communities, but their concern is being co-opted by money-hungry lawyers and environmental activists seeking to eliminate fossil fuel companies.

Don’t believe that Berman’s only in this for the money? Per VICE:

As our interview came to a close I asked Berman to describe the best-case scenario for all this. “Imagine if I could get ten or 15 cities to all sue and put the same pressure on the oil companies that we did with tobacco companies and create some kind of massive settlement,” he said. He acted as if it was the first time he’d thought of the idea. But I got the feeling it wasn’t. (emphasis added)

Berman’s already succeeded in securing the largest settlement ever and the only way he can outdo himself is to set his sights on the industry that literally powers the world.

But even if Berman doesn’t get to a settlement, if he can just convince a judge to hear his case, he may get everything he thinks he needs:

As far as Berman is concerned the story isn’t over. On climate change he thinks it’s just getting started. If a judge decides his case can be heard—a big if, considering that no lawsuit against big oil has made it to that stage—then Berman can call on Exxon, BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips and Chevron to make internal reports and research into climate change available. “[I’m] dying to get to those documents,” he said. “I’m convinced they’re going to be smoking hot.” (emphasis added)

This dogged pursuit of industry documents tracks with a memo Berman’s new partner, #ExxonKnew activist Matt Pawa, sent to billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer. Pawa wrote a memo in 2015 pitching Steyer on the idea of convincing Californian communities to sue the oil and gas industry over climate change. The memo suggests that “simply proceeding to the discovery phase of a global warming case would be significant.”Pawa’s firm was**acquired**by Hagens Bermanearlier this year “in an effort to pursue climate change litigation against companies,” and Pawa is now leading the San Francisco and Oakland cases.

There is hope that these cases will not progress that far. In her 2009 decision in a related case, U.S. District Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong wrote, “There is no realistic possibility of tracing any particular alleged effect of global warming to any particular emissions by an specific person, entity, group at any particular point in time.”

“The litigants misunderstand nuisance law,” attorney Scott Segal told the :{Washington Post:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: earlier this year. “In the case of global climate change, a molecule of carbon is literally around the world in seven days. The requisite causation needed for nuisance suits is missing and unprovable.”

Having failed to pass a national climate policy out of Congress and after watching President Trump dismantle President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, these activists are completely sidelining democracy and trying to push their agenda through the courts. If successful, a handful of extremists will have imposed their radical anti-fossil fuel policy on the entire country, which has repeatedly rejected their efforts.

They're About “Bring[ing] Down” Energy Producers - EID Climate

https://eidclimate.org › calif-climate-suits-not-climate-th...

Dec 22, 2017 — Berman is best known, though, for suing big tobacco in the 1990s. At the end of that fight, he helped negotiate a $206 billion settlement from ...

Meet the Lawyer Trying to Make Big Oil Pay for Climate Change

https://www.vice.com › Home › climate change

Dec 21, 2017 — Berman sued Exxon, Chevron, BP, ConocoPhillips, and 20 other fossil fuel producers on behalf of the villagers, arguing these companies spread ...

Climate Change King County | Hagens Berman

https://www.hbsslaw.com › cases › climate-change-king...

May 9, 2018 — King County filed a lawsuit today in King County Superior Court against the five largest oil companies to hold them responsible for knowingly ...

### Climate Change San Francisco & Oakland - Hagens Berman

https://www.hbsslaw.com › cases › climate-change-san-...

Sep 20, 2017 — Hagens Berman represents King County, Wash. in a lawsuit alleging Big Oil giants are responsible for the county's costs of global warming- ...

Steve Berman ESQ climate

Early life and education

Career

Early career

Hagens Berman and big tobacco

Later work

Personal life

References

External links

They're About “Bring[ing] Down” Energy Producers - EID Climate

Meet the Lawyer Trying to Make Big Oil Pay for Climate Change

Climate Change King County | Hagens Berman

Climate Litigation Against Big Oil Heats Up - Sierra Club

Conspiracy Theory - The Atlantic

Steve Berman (lawyer) - Wikipedia

Steve W. Berman Attorney | Plaintiffs' Lawyer

Why we must Sue Big Oil Even if We Lose | Ocean Blue Project

Washington's King County drops climate lawsuit against oil ...