The daughter of a woman who died during the record-breaking heat wave in Seattle in 2021 has sued six oil companies, claiming they're responsible for her mother's death. 

What happened?

As NPR reported, on June 28, 2021 — when temperatures in Seattle hit a record of 108 degrees Fahrenheit — authorities found Julie Leon unconscious in her car. Her internal temperature had reached a staggering 110 degrees, according to the lawsuit.

The Center for Climate Integrity, an environmental group, said it's the first time Big Oil has faced a lawsuit involving someone's death in a "climate disaster."

Six oil companies were blamed for causing the tragedy, including Chevron, BP, and ExxonMobil. Misti Leon, Julie's daughter, claimed in the suit that oil companies have hidden the dangerous impacts of burning oil from the public.

Misti Leon is demanding that oil companies pay for causing her mother's death and also wants Big Oil to organize a public awareness campaign to properly inform people about the true dangers of fossil fuels, which the suit says have led to a "foreseeable loss of human life."

"The advantage of this lawsuit is that it puts an individual human face on the massive harmful consequences of collective climate inaction," Douglas Kysar, the Law, Environment and Animals Program's faculty director at Yale Law School, told NPR. "Not only that, the complaint tells a story of industry betrayal of public trust through the eyes of a particular person."

Why are lawsuits against oil companies important?

Lawsuits against Big Oil are becoming more common as weather disasters increase around the globe, and people are connecting the dots.

Efforts to hold companies accountable will let them know that the public and governments are no longer supporting their activities, as they cause massive destruction of life, property, and the environment.

Lawsuits could also allow those impacted by weather events to recover some of the costs associated with infrastructure repairs, health bills, and disaster response. Not to mention, by holding companies liable, the lawsuits could disincentivize future investments in dirty fuel infrastructure and encourage a faster transition to clean energy.

While it's sometimes hard to prove a connection between dirty fuels and heatwaves, in this case, the evidence is damning.

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As World Weather Attribution reported, a study by an international team of scientists found the record-breaking heatwave in the Seattle area believed to have caused Julie Leon's death would have been "virtually impossible without human-caused climate change."

According to Zero Carbon Analytics, climate lawsuits against oil companies are on the rise, with the number of cases nearly tripling each year since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015.

Compensation for climate damages makes up the largest portion of cases. Officials in Oregon's Multnomah County are suing large oil and gas companies for contributing to nearly 70 deaths from heat stroke during the June 2021 heat wave.

Almost a dozen other states, including Vermont and New York, have drafted legislation to force dirty fuel companies to foot the bill for environmental damages. 

What else is being done to hold oil companies accountable?

The public is also paying close attention to investment and pension funds, as many of them have ties to large oil and gas companies. Students and environmental advocates worldwide have launched protests against universities and powerful companies for investing in dirty energy.

However, the New York State Pension Fund is divesting over $30 million across 39 oil and gas companies and putting a sizable chunk into climate funds, signaling that some in the industry are making sustainable moves.

With that said, you can do your part to help the planet by investing in clean energy stocks, which will not only benefit eco-friendly companies, but can also take some of the power away from fossil fuel leaders.

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