California’s lawsuit against auto makers is dismissed

The courts do not have the authority or the expertise to decide injury lawsuits concerning global warming, a judge in San Francisco ruled in dismissing a suit brought by the State of California against six auto companies. The State of California claimed that these companies produced vehicles that accounted for more than 20 percent of human-generated carbon dioxide emissions in the United States and more than 30 percent of those emitted in California, and sought billions of dollars in damages. Judge Martin Jenkins, however, did not believe this was an appropriate role for the courts: “The adjudication of plaintiff’s claim would require the court to balance the competing interests of reducing global warming emissions and the interests of advancing and preserving economic and industrial development,” Jenkins wrote.