Latest news with #MistiLeon
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
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.
E&E News
30-05-2025
- Health
- E&E News
Woman sues oil companies after her mother's death in a heat wave
The daughter of an Oregon woman who died during the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat dome is suing seven oil and gas companies for wrongful death. Misti Leon alleges that the death of her mother, Juliana, was the 'direct and foreseeable consequence' of the companies' promotion of fossil fuels and their failure to warn the public that burning them could increase global temperatures. 'Defendants knew that continued fossil fuel consumption would lead to a climate crisis and spur deadly events like the 2021 heat dome,' the lawsuit says, adding that the 'deception campaign furthermore limited understanding of the causes and consequences of climate change' and stunted measures to adapt that could have saved lives. Advertisement Juliana 'Julie' Leon, 65, died of heatstroke in June 2021 on what was the hottest day ever recorded in Seattle, Washington. That morning, she had driven 100 miles from her home to a doctor's appointment for a follow-up visit related to a voluntary bariatric surgery she had undergone a few weeks before. Leon's doctors cleared her to eat solid foods and took her vitals, finding no issue.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Historic lawsuit filed against big oil companies for Washington mother's heat dome death
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – After a Washington woman's death during the 2021 heat dome in the Pacific Northwest, a new lawsuit filed by her daughter is seeking accountability from major oil companies. Misti Leon filed the first-of-its-kind wrongful death lawsuit in King County Washington on Thursday, against some of the largest oil companies in the world, including Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP, Shell and Conoco Phillips. The lawsuit argues that the companies have been deceptive to the public about their knowledge of fossil fuels driving climate change and extreme heat events, which led to the death of 65-year-old Juliana 'Julie' Leon. Portland has the worst housing crisis outlook, LendingTree finds The lawsuit stems from the that blanketed the Pacific Northwest in heat for five days in late June. During those five days, two days were above 90 degrees while three days saw high temperatures well above 100 degrees. During the heat dome, hundreds of people died across Oregon and Washington. 'The day Julie died was the hottest day ever recorded in Washington with temperatures in Seattle, where Julie died, peaking around d 108° F,' the lawsuit states. Residents appeal Oaks Amusement Park's plan to install 135-foot Drop Tower ride The morning of July 28, 2021, Julia Leon drove almost 100 miles from her Ferndale home to a doctor's appointment in Seattle, following up after undergoing bariatric surgery two weeks prior. 'It was the third consecutive day above 100°F and record nighttime temperatures prevented the built environment from being able to dissipate the heat it had absorbed throughout the day. In effect, Seattle had turned into an oven,' the lawsuit notes. 'On that day, Julie was overcome by heat while driving through Seattle with her windows rolled down,' the suit explained, noting the air conditioning in her car was broken. 'She managed to safely pull off the highway and onto a residential street before losing consciousness.' Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Court documents then describe how a good Samaritan found Julie in her car about two hours later, unresponsive and hot to the touch. First responders administered over a dozen rounds of CPR and other lifesaving measures but could not revive her. The lawsuit says Julie's internal temperature was 110° F when she died, with her official cause of death determined to be hyperthermia. 'The extreme heat that killed Julie was directly linked to fossil duel-driven alteration of the climate,' the lawsuit alleges. Portlanders hold opposing protests over funding parks vs. police The lawsuit claims that the major oil companies have been deceptive about climate harms and have documented knowledge about fossil fuels driving climate change. 'Defendants have known for all of Julie's life that their affirmative actions and omissions would claim lives,' the lawsuit says. 'Julie is a victim of Defendants' conduct.' The suit claims that as early as the 1950s, the oil companies knew their products were already impacting 'the structure of the atmosphere.' Largest K-12 budget in Oregon history advances in state legislature 'Defendants' deceptive conduct has resulted in very real consequences: accelerated alteration of our climate, extreme weather events (such as heat domes), and loss of life,' the lawsuit argues. 'These companies knew that their products, if used as intended, would cause many people to die. Despite this knowledge, defendants aggressively sought to build demand for their products without ever providing warnings to consumers. Further, defendants affirmatively misrepresented their products' dangers and the actions needed to mitigate them.' The complaint continues, 'Beginning as early as the 1970s, Defendants conspired to discredit the burgeoning scientific consensus on the existence and cause of climate change, deny their own knowledge of climate change-related threats, create doubt about the consequences of burning fossil fuels, and delay the transition to a lower-carbon future.' Attorneys for Leon's estate noted that climate scientists say the heat dome would have been ''virtually impossible,'' without climate change, citing a study published in World Weather Attribution. 'Defeat for democracy'? Waldport City Council reinstates mayor after hostility complaints The lawsuit seeks a court ruling that the oil companies engaged in wrongful conduct along with an economic award for damages. Misti Leon is also hoping to hold the companies accountable for her mother's death, their role in driving climate change, and to reduce the number and likelihood of deaths from future climate disasters. In a statement to KOIN 6 News, Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr. of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher LLP, counsel for Chevron Corporation, said, 'Exploiting a personal tragedy to promote politicized climate tort litigation is contrary to law, science, and common sense. The court should add this far-fetched claim to the growing list of meritless climate lawsuits that state and federal courts have already dismissed.' Spokespeople for BP, Conoco Phillips and Shell declined to comment on the pending litigation. KOIN 6 News has also reached out to Exxon Mobil. This story will be updated if we receive a response. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Guardian
29-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Seattle woman brings first-ever wrongful death lawsuit against big oil
A Seattle woman has brought the first-ever wrongful death lawsuit against big oil, claiming fossil fuel companies' climate negligence caused her mother's death during a major heatwave. Juliana Leon died of hyperthermia at age 65 during the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat dome – an event that killed nearly 200 people, and which meteorologists say would have been 'virtually impossible' without human-caused global warming. 'The day Julie died was the hottest day ever recorded in Washington with temperatures in Seattle, where Julie died, peaking around 108F,' reads the lawsuit, filed on Wednesday by Misti Leon, Juliana Leon's daughter Because they failed to warn the public about the dangers of planet-heating emissions, major fossil fuel companies should be held accountable for that death, the case argues. 'When a tragedy like Julie's death results from the prolific use of fossil fuels, it is easy to dismiss the misfortune as an accident rather than a foreseeable consequence of Defendants' deception,' the lawsuit says. It names ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, Phillips 66 and the BP-managed subsidiary Olympic Pipeline Company as defendants. The Guardian has contacted each of the companies named in the suit for comment. Shell and Phillips 66 declined to comment. The new lawsuit represents a new frontier for climate accountability litigation, following dozens of lawsuits brought by cities and states against big oil in recent years. Previous suits accused companies of breaching product liability and consumer protection laws and engaging in fraud and racketeering. But Wednesday's case is the first attempt to hold oil companies responsible for an individual climate-related death. 'Lethal climate disasters are the foreseeable, and foreseen, consequences of specific actions by fossil fuel corporations, CEOs and boards of directors,' Aaron Regunberg, a director at consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. 'They caused the climate crisis and deceived the public about the dangerousness of their products in order to block and delay solutions that could prevent heat deaths like Juliana's.' The new lawsuit is a civil case, but Regunberg has spent years asserting that prosecutors could also bring criminal charges against big oil, including homicide. A 2023 report published in Harvard's Environmental Law Review argued that oil companies could be charged with every kind of homicide charge, other than first-degree murder. 'Big oil's victims deserve accountability,' said Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, which tracks and supports climate accountability litigation, in a statement. 'This is an industry that is causing and accelerating climate conditions that kill people. They've known it for 50 years, and at some point they must be held accountable.'
