Mayor & City Council of Baltimore v. BP P. L.C.
| Decision Date | 20 June 2019 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. ELH-18-2357 |
| Parties | MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, Plaintiff, v. BP P.L.C., et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Maryland |
In this Memorandum Opinion, the Court determines whether a suit concerning climate change was properly removed from a Maryland state court to federal court.
The Mayor and City Council of Baltimore (the "City") filed suit in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City against twenty-six multinational oil and gas companies. See ECF 42 (Complaint). The City alleges that defendants have substantially contributed to greenhouse gas pollution, global warming, and climate change by extracting, producing, promoting, refining, distributing, and selling fossil fuel products (i.e., coal, oil, and natural gas), while simultaneously deceiving consumers and the public about the dangers associated with those products. Id. ¶¶ 1-8. As a result of such conduct, the City claims that it has sustained and will sustain "climate change-related injuries." Id. ¶ 102. According to the City, the injuries from "[a]nthropogenic (human-caused) greenhouse gas pollution," id. ¶ 3, include a rise in sea level along Maryland's coast, as well as an increase in storms, floods, heatwaves, drought, extreme precipitation, and other conditions. Id. ¶ 8.
The Complaint asserts eight causes of action, all founded on Maryland law: public nuisance (Count I); private nuisance (Count II); strict liability for failure to warn (Count III); strict liability for design defect (Count IV); negligent design defect (Count V); negligent failure to warn (Count VI); trespass (Count VII); and violations of the Maryland Consumer Protection Act, Md. Code (2013 Repl. Vol., 2019 Supp.), Com. Law §§ 13-101 to 13-501 (Count VIII). Id. ¶¶ 218-98. The City seeks monetary damages, civil penalties, and equitable relief. Id.
Two of the defendants, Chevron Corp. and Chevron U.S.A., Inc. (collectively, "Chevron"), timely removed the case to this Court. ECF 1 (Notice of Removal).1 Asserting a battery of grounds for removal, Chevron underscores that the case concerns "global emissions" (id. at 3) with "uniquely federal interests" (id. at 6) that implicate "bedrock federal-state divisions of responsibility[.]" Id. at 3.
The eight grounds for removal are as follows: (1) the case is removable under 28 U.S.C. § 1441(a) and § 1331, because the City's claims are governed by federal common law, not state common law; (2) the action raises disputed and substantial issues of federal law that must be adjudicated in a federal forum; (3) the City's claims are completely preempted by the Clean Air Act ("CAA"), 42 U.S.C. § 7401 et seq., and/or other federal statutes and the Constitution; (4) this Court has original jurisdiction under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act ("OCSLA"), 43 U.S.C. § 1349(b); (5) removal is authorized under the federal officer removal statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1442(a)(1); (6) this Court has federal question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 because the City's claims are based on alleged injuries to and/or conduct on federal enclaves; (7) removal is authorized under 28 U.S.C. § 1452(a) and 28 U.S.C. § 1334(b), because the City's claims arerelated to federal bankruptcy cases; and (8) the City's claims fall within the Court's original admiralty jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1333. ECF 1 at 6-12, ¶¶ 5-12.
Thereafter, the City filed a motion to remand the case to state court, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c). ECF 111. The motion is supported by a memorandum of law (ECF 111-1) (collectively, "Remand Motion"). Defendants filed a joint opposition to the Remand Motion (ECF 124, "Opposition"), along with three supplements containing numerous exhibits. ECF 125; ECF 126; ECF 127.2 The City replied. ECF 133.
Defendants also filed a conditional motion to stay the execution of any remand order. ECF 161. They ask that, in the event the Court grants the City's Remand Motion, the Court issue an order staying execution of the remand for thirty days to allow them to appeal the ruling. Id. at 1-2. The City initially opposed that motion (ECF 162), but subsequently stipulated to the requested stay. ECF 170. This Court accepted the parties' stipulation by Consent Order of April 22, 2019. ECF 171.
No hearing is necessary to resolve the Remand Motion. See Local Rule 105.6. For the reasons that follow, I conclude that removal was improper. Therefore, I shall grant the Remand Motion. However, I shall stay execution of the remand for thirty days, in accordance with the parties' joint stipulation and the Court's prior Order.
This matter presents a primer on removal jurisdiction; defendants rely on the proverbial "laundry list" of grounds for removal. I begin by outlining the general contours of removal jurisdiction and then turn to the specific bases for removal on which defendants rely.
District courts of the United States are courts of limited jurisdiction and possess only the "power authorized by Constitution and statute." Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Allapattah Servs., Inc., 545 U.S. 546, 552 (2005) (citation omitted); see Home Buyers Warranty Corp. v. Hanna, 750 F.3d 727, 432 (4th Cir. 2014). They "may not exercise jurisdiction absent a statutory basis . . . ." Exxon Mobil Corp, 545 U.S. at 552. Indeed, a federal court must presume that a case lies outside its limited jurisdiction unless and until jurisdiction has been shown to be proper. United States v. Poole, 531 F.3d 263, 274 (4th Cir. 2008) (citing Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co., 511 U.S. 375, 377 (1994)).
Under § 28 U.S.C. § 1441, the general removal statute, "any civil action brought in a State court of which the district courts of the United States have original jurisdiction" may be "removed by the defendant or the defendants, to the district court of the United States for the district and division embracing the place where such action is pending." Id. § 1441(a). Congress has conferred jurisdiction on the federal courts in several ways. Of relevance here, to provide a federal forum for plaintiffs who seek to vindicate federal rights, Congress has conferred on the district courts original jurisdiction over civil actions that arise under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States. See U.S. Const. art. III, § 2 ();see also 28 U.S.C. § 1331; Exxon Mobil Corp., 545 U.S. at 552. This is sometimes called federal question jurisdiction.3
The burden of demonstrating jurisdiction and the propriety of removal rests with the removing party. See McBurney v. Cuccinelli, 616 F.3d 393, 408 (4th Cir. 2010); Robb Evans & Assocs. v. Holibaugh, 609 F.3d 359, 362 (4th Cir. 2010); Dixon v. Coburg Dairy, Inc., 369 F.3d 811, 816 (4th Cir. 2004) (en banc). Therefore, "[i]f a plaintiff files suit in state court and the defendant seeks to adjudicate the matter in federal court through removal, it is the defendant who carries the burden of alleging in his notice of removal and, if challenged, demonstrating the court's jurisdiction over the matter." Strawn v. AT & T Mobility LLC, 530 F.3d 293, 296 (4th Cir. 2008). And, if "a case was not properly removed, because it was not within the original jurisdiction" of the federal court, then "the district court must remand [the case] to the state court from which it was removed." Franchise Tax Bd. of Cal. v. Constr. Laborers Vacation Trust, 463 U.S. 1, 8 (1983) (citing 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c)).
Courts are required to construe removal statutes narrowly. Shamrock Oil & Gas Corp. v. Sheets, 313 U.S. 100, 108-09 (1941). This is because "the removal of cases from state to federalcourt raises significant federalism concerns." Barbour v. Int'l Union, 640 F.3d 599, 605 (4th Cir. 2011) (en banc), abrogated in part on other grounds by the Federal Courts Jurisdiction and Venue Clarification Act of 2011, Pub. L. No. 112-63, 125 Stat. 758 (2011); see also Mulcahey v. Columbia Organic Chems. Co., 29 F.3d 148, 151 (4th Cir. 1994) () (citing Shamrock, 313 U.S. at 108-09). Thus, "any doubts" about removal must be "resolved in favor of state court jurisdiction." Barbour, 640 F.3d at 617; see also Cohn v. Charles, 857 F. Supp. 2d 544, 547 (D. Md. 2012) ().
Defendants assert a host of grounds for removal; four of their eight grounds are premised on federal question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331. These grounds are as follows: (1) the City's public nuisance claim is necessarily governed by federal common law; (2) the City's claims raise disputed and substantial issues of federal law; (3) the City's claims are completely preempted by the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7401 et seq., and the foreign affairs doctrine; and (4) the City's claims are based on conduct or injuries that occurred on federal enclaves. ECF 1, ¶¶ 5-7; ECF 124 at 8-49. I shall address each of these arguments in turn and then consider defendants' alternative bases for removal.
As alternative grounds, defendants assert that this Court has original jurisdiction under the OCSLA, 43 U.S.C. § 1349(b); removal is authorized under the federal officer removal statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1442(a)(1); removal is authorized under 28 U.S.C. § 1452(a) and 28 U.S.C. § 1334(b) because the City's claims are related to bankruptcy cases; and the City's claims fall within the Court's original admiralty jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1333.
Article III of the United States Constitution provides: "The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under . . . the Laws of the United States[.]" U.S. Const. art. III, § 2, cl. 1. Section 1331 of ...
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