Since a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2007, which held that greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles pollute the air and that the Environmental Protection Agency must therefore regulate such emissions, the number of climate change-related lawsuits against public companies has been growing.
Recent years also have brought a growing number of governmental actions and shareholder lawsuits against companies, or their directors and officers, alleging environmental-related disclosure failures.
But for the most part, these actions have not charged companies specifically with climate change-related disclosure inadequacies, notes William Passannante, co-chair of the insurance recovery practice at law firm Anderson Kill.
