Board of Commissioners of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority v. Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, L.L.C., et al.

Case Updates

The Fifth Circuit affirmed a lower court’s decision that a tort lawsuit, brought by a Louisiana public entity against dozens of oil and gas companies, belonged in federal court rather than in Louisiana state court. According to the Fifth Circuit, the case belongs in federal court because the industry activities that are the basis of the litigation are subject to extensive federal regulation.

The U.S. Chamber filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to affirm the district court’s judgment holding that the federal courts have jurisdiction over a case targeting the oil-and-gas industry for alleged coastal erosion and that the entire lawsuit should be dismissed for failure to state a claim because the plaintiffs’ claims are displaced by a comprehensive federal regulatory framework.

The brief argued that federal courts have jurisdiction over cases, like this one, where substantial federal questions and interests are central to the claims in the complaint and the demanded relief. For similar reasons, the district court was correct to dismiss the claims because a comprehensive scheme of federal regulation has occupied the field.

Evan A. Young and Carlos R. Romo of Baker Botts served as co-counsel for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on behalf of the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center.