Lawyers could charge big oil with homicide after 2023 Arizona heatwave

[Jilly_in_VA]

Prosecutors in Arizona could reasonably press homicide charges against big oil for deaths caused by a July 2023 heatwave, lawyers wrote in a new prosecution memorandum.

“[T]he case for prosecuting fossil fuel companies for climate-related deaths is strong enough to merit the initiation of investigations by state and local prosecutors,” the document says.

The memo, published by the consumer advocacy non-profit Public Citizen onWednesday, concludes that the state could pursue reckless manslaughter or second-degree murder claims for the extreme weather event that killed hundreds of residents and which climate scientists found would have been “virtually impossible” but for the climate crisis, caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuels.

Victims of the heatwave were diverse, the memo’s authors write.

“Some were homeless, like the man who died after breaking both legs jumping over a fence in a desperate attempt to find shade outside an elementary school; others were well off, like the woman who died in her $1 million home in Scottsdale,” the memo says, adding that while some victims were older and had pre-existing health conditions, the authors write, others were young and healthy.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/26/arizona-heatwave-big-oil-lawsuit

And 2024 promised to be even worse in more states. Of course, if this gets to the SC, as currently composed, all bets are off.

[marybourg]

1. Good publicity gimmick, but all who died

had causes more “proximate” than promotion of fossil fuels, making winning unlikely. All who died were isolated from human help in some way. The few “young and healthy” had hiked or climbed away from human contact. Of the others, 2/3 were isolated by drugs ( largely fentanyl) or alcohol. The rest by dementia or other forms of mental distress. It’s hard to imagine a jury finding that fossil fuel use were the “proximate cause” of these sad deaths.

[Jilly_in_VA]

2. Reminding you

that not everyone who died is not "isolated from human contact". What about construction workers, roofers, road workers, etc, who suffered heat- related illness? Even young athletes in training? The homeless who were homeless through no fault of their own? People who lived without A/C or whose A/C went out on them? You are painting with an awfully broad brush there.

Let me give you an example, just a small one, from my nursing career. One very hot summer about 14 years ago I happened to be taking care of a couple of guys who were young and fit and damn near died of heatstroke. One was a Marine major from Quantico who had collapsed during a fitness workout. The other was a delivery driver, I don't remember the exact circumstances of his collapse. Both had families. Neither was "isolated" or had "isolated himself". And they were far from the only ones. The Marine had just gotten out of ICU, having come near kidney failure. The delivery driver had come pretty close.

That same summer a dear friend of mine who lives in Texas had also ended up in the hospital with heat stroke AND kidney failure. She is also not isolated---she's married and lives on the family ranch. She just happened to have to be out on the ranch working the horses and thought she was drinking enough water. Apparently not. She got home and sat down in the recliner and her husband couldn't wake her up. Ambulance trip to the hospital, 3 days in ICU. She now has to wear a cooling vest every time she goes out in summer and isn't supposed to go out between noon and 4 pm. Try that on a working ranch. She wasn't isolated either.

[marybourg]

4. You're pointing out people who didn't die, because they got help . The OP was

about people who DID die, because due to an intervening cause, they couldn’t or didn’t get help.

[Jilly_in_VA]

5. Yeah, and

people like the ones I mentioned very well might NOT have gotten help, had someone not been right there. Did you even READ the other part of my post? I'm guessing you did not.

[marybourg]

6. I don't understand the issue. I responded to the theory behind a proposed lawsuit, not

to a question of whether people can and do from excessive heat.

[Jilly_in_VA]

7. Did you read the whole article?

[marybourg]

8. No, just your OP.

[Jilly_in_VA]

9. Well then, OK

Maybe you should go read the whole article. Isn't that WHY we include the links on DU? Otherwise you're missing a lot of context.

[Takket]

3. i wish them the best of luck with that.