Professor Frank Interviewed on KPCC Regarding Proposed Climate Change Lawsuit

Professor of Environmental Practice Richard Frank ’74 was interviewed on the Southern California public radio station KPCC program Air Talk regarding a proposed lawsuit in which the City of Los Angeles would sue oil companies for costs associated with mitigating climate change.

The City of Los Angeles is contemplating legal action against major oil companies to seek monetary compensation for the harm the city and its residents are suffering and will continue to suffer due to the unavoidable, adverse consequences of rising sea levels, coastal storms, wildfires, and other problems associated with climate change. Other California cities and counties—along with the City of New York—have recently filed similar lawsuits against the oil industry.

In the interview, Frank indicated that while these lawsuits are innovative and face a number of procedural and substantive hurdles, they have a plausible chance of success. He cited historic “impact” litigation—including the civil rights lawsuits of the 1950s and 1960s, the litigation brought by state attorneys general against the tobacco industry in the 1990s, and lawsuits brought by Bay Area local governments against the manufacturers and sellers of lead-based paint—as successful examples of similar efforts to protect public health and welfare through the courts.

“That litigation was ridiculed when it was brought as being overly ambitious, but those cases in hindsight have been quite successful both on the legal front and in driving public policy toward a safer, more healthy environment,” said Frank.

Frank is a leader in the field of environmental law and the founding Director of the California Environmental Law and Policy Center at UC Davis School of Law.