A 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 in Seattle at age 65 during the 2021 Pacific north-west 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.
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