Overview

• Baltimore, Annapolis and Anne Arundel County asked the state high court to revive lawsuits dismissed in 2024 and 2025 that target fossil fuel companies for alleged misleading conduct about climate risks.
• During oral arguments Monday, several justices pressed the municipalities on the specificity of alleged disinformation and on how stronger warnings would have altered local climate harms.
• Defense counsel argued the claims are preempted by federal law and policy, pointing to the national and international scope of emissions and to regulatory frameworks such as the Clean Air Act.
• Plaintiffs maintained the cases concern failures to warn and deceptive marketing rather than regulation of emissions, seeking clearer disclosures and damages for local impacts.
• A ruling is pending that could either return the cases to trial courts or leave the dismissals in place, with the Maryland fight unfolding alongside roughly 35 similar suits nationwide and state high-court rulings in Hawaii and Colorado favoring plaintiffs.