The judiciary’s role in resolving conflicts related to climate change is expected to become only greater as global warming will affect more communities.
By Edvard Pettersson, Courthouse News Service
A panel of California judges emphasized the need for their colleagues to keep abreast of the latest developments in environmental law, regulations and science as increasingly more large and complex climate-related lawsuits come before them.
“We are trying to keep up with the times,” Third Appellate District Justice Ronald Robie said at a meeting Friday of the California Judicial Council. “Environmental law, water law and laws related to climate change is a critically and rapidly developing field.”
Given the complexity and the dynamic nature of environmental issues, understanding the applicable law is essential for judges that are tasked with interpreting and applying the law, Robie said in describing the significance of the Judicial Council’s environmental law education program.
“Judges play a pivotal role in the application of environmental law to real life,” he said. “They are responsible for resolving disputes, interpreting legislation and ensuring that environmental policies are implemented effectively and justly.”
The volume of climate-related lawsuits has been increasing in recent years and is expected to continue doing so as many issues related to climate change will affect communities across California in the coming decades, added Justice Stacy Boulware Eurie, who like Robie serves on the state’s court of appeal in Sacramento.
These impacts will include more extreme heat events, shifting ecosystems, loss of biodiversity and rising ocean levels, while some parts of the state will see excessive rain and flooding and other parts will face more prolonged droughts and water scarcity, Boulware Eurie said.
“We’re already seeing an increase in parties coming to our courtrooms — here, around the nation and globally — using environmental law, climate science, law and policy to address the very impacts of climate change,” she said.
She noted environmental law is especially complex in California because of the state’s regulatory framework, stringent standards and diverse geography and ecosystems. This means that the state has to be a leader in educating its judicial officers in relevant subjects.
These subjects include, among others, the intersection of environmental law with mass tort litigation where a large number of plaintiffs might seek to hold a corporation accountable for groundwater contamination, toxic spills or air pollution that is affecting an entire community, Boulware Eurie said.
Such cases often will involve complex scientific evidence and large-scale impacts that require judges to have a nuanced understanding of both environmental law and science, she said, and the council’s continuing education program can prepare them to handle such multifaceted cases effectively.
To illustrate the challenges state judges face in dealing with environmental litigation, Merced County Superior Court Brian McCabe recounted a four-month jury trial over which he presided that involved a city suing an oil company, a chemical manufacturer and a retail chemical company claiming they had contaminated the city’s groundwater supply.
“The case was scientific in nature, produced voluminous documentation through discovery, and was laden with a multitude of experts and their opinions, all engineered by eight attorneys,” McCabe told the meeting. “Simply put, it was a tsunami.”
Environmental cases like that, and their intricate legal challenges, require that judges stay abreast of the latest scientific, regulatory and legal developments through tailored and timely judicial education, he said.
The California Judicial Council is the policymaking body of the state’s courts, which is the largest court system in the nation. Part of the council is the Center for Judicial Education and Research, which makes recommendations for improving the administration of justice through education and training for judges and other court personnel.
It offers a wide range of educational products on environmental law, Justice Robie said, including podcasts, online videos, classes and bench guides. He encouraged the attendees at the meeting in San Francisco to participate in a four-day class in December on water law and the California Environmental Quality Act.
