Court unanimously sides with oil and gas companies in suit over damage to Louisiana coast

Court unanimously sides with oil and gas companies in suit over damage to Louisiana coast The Supreme Court on Friday sent a lawsuit seeking to hold oil and gas companies liable for damage to the Louisiana coast back to the federal courts. Several Louisiana parishes – the equivalent of counties in that state – had filed the lawsuit in state court, and in 2024 a federal appeals court in New Orleans rebuffed the companies’ latest effort to move the case to federal court. Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, with Justice Samuel Alito not participating because he owns stock in the parent company of one of the defendants in the case, the justices on Friday morning threw out the appeals court’s decision. The federal law at the center of the case is known as the “federal officer removal statute.” It gives federal courts the power to hear state court cases filed against “any officer (or any person acting under that officer) of the United States or of any agency thereof, in an official or individual capacity, for or relating to any act under color of such office.” More than a decade ago, the