Questions Presented
1. Whether a claim is ripe when it is predicated on a plaintiff’s potential future injury and mere good faith intent to take steps in 15 to 20 years that could, depending on a chain of uncertain events, cause the plaintiff to suffer an actual injury some day in the future.
2. Whether the federal oxygenate mandate in the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 7545 (2000), preempts a state-law tort award that imposes retroactive liability on a manufacturer for using the safest, feasible means available at the time for complying with that mandate.
Case Updates
Cert. petition denied
April 21, 2014
U.S. Chamber urges Supreme Court to review Second Circuit case that significantly departs from the Court’s rulings on constitutional standing
February 12, 2014
The U.S. Chamber joined a large coalition of trade associations to ask that the Supreme Court review a Second Circuit decision that upheld a $100 million jury verdict against Exxon based upon the possibility that the City of New York might at some indefinite point in time in the next 25 years seek to use water that might contain small amounts of one type of contaminant. In the brief, the coalition argued that the Court should review the case because of its sharp contravention to the clear requirements of Article III standing that “an injury must be concrete, particularized, and actual or imminent.” The coalition brief warned that the Second Circuit’s ruling has consequences that will extend far beyond the present case and will open the floodgates to claims against virtually every manner of human enterprise that could be linked with such trace detections, affecting such diverse sectors of the economy as agriculture, manufacturing, petroleum, and pharmaceuticals.
The Chamber filed the brief jointly with the American Coatings Association, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Federation of Independent Business.
Joe G. Hollingsworth and Eric G. Lasker of Hollingsworth LLP represented the U.S. Chamber as co-counsel to the National Chamber Litigation Center in this case.
Case Documents
- Cert. Petition -- Exxon v. City of New York (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf
- U.S. Chamber Amicus Brief -- Exxon v. City of New York (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf