Seattle family sues Big Oil over 2021 heat dome death

A Seattle family is suing Big Oil over a loved one’s death.

Julie Leon died of hyperthermia on June 28, 2021, the hottest day on record in Seattle’s history. Temperatures reached as high as 108 degrees that day in the throes of the Seattle heat dome that occurred that summer. Leon, 65, was found unresponsive in her car. Her internal temperature had risen to 110 degrees, according to the lawsuit.

The family claimed climate change caused the extreme heat that killed Leon. The lawsuit was filed by Julie Leon’s daughter.

The major oil companies named in the lawsuit include ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, and Shell, with the claim that these companies knew their products were dangerous and had misled the public for decades.

“On that day, Julie was overcome by heat while driving through Seattle with her windows rolled down,” the legal filing read. “She managed to safely pull off the highway and onto a residential street before losing consciousness. Roughly two hours later, a good Samaritan discovered her, unresponsive and hot to the touch. First responders administered over a dozen rounds of CPR and other lifesaving measures but could not revive her.”

Critics speak out against the lawsuit

Cliff Mass, an atmospheric sciences professor at the University of Washington (UW), challenged the notion of the lawsuit, claiming many factors contributed to the bizarre heat dome, and that climate change has only contributed a 1-2 degree increase in extreme heat.

“Global warming only contributed a very small amount of the increase in temperature during that heatwave,” Mass told The Center Square.

Theodore Boutrous, a lawyer for Chevron, provided a statement to NPR regarding the lawsuit.

“Exploiting a personal tragedy to promote politicized climate tort litigation is contrary to law, science, and common sense,” Boutrous told NPR. “The court should add this far-fetched claim to the growing list of meritless climate lawsuits that state and federal courts have already dismissed.”

Legal experts stated it’s one of the first lawsuits of its kind due to placing an individual, and a face, to the case.

Other climate-change-related lawsuits haven’t had too much success. On May 1, the Justice Department sued the states of Michigan and Hawaii in an attempt to prevent those states from filing climate lawsuits against the fossil fuel industry. Some climate-change-related lawsuits, like ones filed in Baltimore, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, have failed to move forward, while others, filed in California, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Rhode Island, are still ongoing.