Seattle woman's 2021 heat death blamed on fossil fuel giants in first of its kind lawsuit
A wrongful death lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court claims major fossil fuel companies are responsible for the death of a 65-year-old woman during the record-breaking 2021 Pacific Northwest heat dome, arguing the companies knowingly contributed to climate change and misled the public about its dangers.
According to the complaint filed May 29 by Misti Leon, her mother Juliana 'Julie' Leon died of hyperthermia in her car in Seattle on June 28, 2021, after being overwhelmed by extreme heat.
The lawsuit alleges that oil giants including ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, Shell, and ConocoPhillips are liable for Julie's death and accuses them of a decades-long campaign of deception about the risks of burning fossil fuels.
On the day she died, Seattle reached 108°F—its highest recorded temperature.
Julie, who lived in Ferndale, had driven to Seattle for a post-operative appointment following bariatric surgery.
With her car's air conditioning not working, she tried to cool herself by rolling down the windows.
The complaint states she pulled over to a residential street after feeling ill, and was later found unconscious by a passerby.
Despite CPR and emergency treatment, her body temperature reached 110°F, and she died from heat stroke.
The suit claims this unprecedented heat wave, part of what scientists called the 2021 'Heat Dome,' would have been 'virtually impossible' without human-caused climate change—fueled primarily by burning fossil fuels.
The legal complaint argues the fossil fuel companies have known since at least the 1950s that their products were accelerating climate change.
Instead of alerting the public, the lawsuit claims, the companies 'concealed their knowledge,' 'sowed public doubt,' and blocked climate action in order to preserve profits.
It further alleges that the companies funded disinformation campaigns, downplayed risks, and falsely presented themselves as climate-conscious in recent years despite continued large-scale fossil fuel production.
Julie's daughter is seeking damages under Washington's wrongful death and product liability laws, claiming the defendants failed to warn consumers about the foreseeable dangers of their products and caused public harm through false advertising and promotion.
She also claims the companies' actions delayed the shift toward cleaner energy sources and left vulnerable populations—like her mother—unprotected from intensifying climate threats.
The defendants named include:
Exxon Mobil Corporation and ExxonMobil Oil Corporation
BP P.L.C., BP America Inc., and Olympic Pipeline Company
Chevron Corporation and Chevron U.S.A., Inc.
Shell PLC and Shell USA, Inc.
ConocoPhillips, ConocoPhillips Company, Phillips 66, and Phillips 66 Company
The lawsuit marks one of the first known wrongful death claims in Washington directly linking a fatality to climate change and holding fossil fuel companies accountable.
A trial date has not yet been set.
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