A Washington woman is suing several major oil companies, claiming their products contributed to the death of her mother during the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat wave.
Misti Leon has filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court in Seattle against ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, Phillips 66, and Olympic Pipeline Company. She alleges the companies played a role in driving climate change, which intensified the record-breaking heat that caused her mother, Juliana Leon, to die of hyperthermia.
On June 28, 2021, temperatures in the region reached 108 degrees — the highest ever recorded. Juliana Leon, 65, was in her car without a functioning air conditioner when she pulled over and was later found unconscious. Her core body temperature had reached 110 degrees, and she died of overheating.
The Washington State Department of Health and King County medical examiner reported that year that there were at least 25 direct heat-related deaths in King County between June 26 and July 6, 2021. The deaths were primarily attributed to hyperthermia or heatstroke, and the decedents tended to be older individuals or those who lacked air conditioning. The New York Times did an analysis and said there were 600 excess deaths in Washington and Oregon during that heat wave week, with about 450 excess deaths in Washington alone. The University of Washington pegged it at 159.
“Defendants knew that their fossil fuel products were already altering the earth’s atmosphere,” the new lawsuit claims. It also states that by 1968, oil companies “understood that the fossil fuel-dependent economy they were creating and perpetuating would intensify those atmospheric changes, resulting in more frequent and destructive weather disasters and foreseeable loss of human life.” The filing, Leon v. ExxonMobil et al., argues that “the extreme heat that killed Julie was directly linked to fossil fuel-driven alteration of the climate.”
Chevron Corporation counsel Theodore Boutrous Jr. responded in a statement to media: “Exploiting a personal tragedy to promote politicized climate tort litigation is contrary to law, science, and common sense. The court should add this far-fetched claim to the growing list of meritless climate lawsuits that state and federal courts have already dismissed.”
King County Superior Court is a progressive venue in the heart of Seattle, a known bastion of both the Democratic Party and the Socialist Party and its subsets. Seattle voters in 2020 voted 75% for Joe Biden and 22% for Donald Trump. In 2024, Seattle voters awarded Kamala Harris 87% of the vote, and Donald Trump only 8.95%, indicating that the city has gone even more left.
While no other case exactly mirrors this wrongful death claim, several lawsuits have similarly sought to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for climate-related impacts, alleging deception or failure to mitigate emissions.
In 2024, the city and county of Honolulu sued major oil companies including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, and BP, seeking damages for climate change-related impacts such as sea level rise, flooding, and heatwaves. That suit alleges the companies concealed the dangers of fossil fuels and used deceptive marketing. It remains ongoing.
In 2020, the Delaware Attorney General filed a lawsuit against Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, and the American Petroleum Institute, accusing them of misleading consumers about climate impacts for over 50 years. The case cites violations of consumer protection laws and alleges harms such as sea level rise and extreme weather. It is still in litigation.
Also in 2020, Connecticut’s Attorney General sued ExxonMobil under the state’s Unfair Trade Practices Act, alleging the company concealed the consequences of fossil fuel use, leading to climate-related damages like sea level rise and property loss. That case is ongoing.
In 2019, Massachusetts filed a similar lawsuit against ExxonMobil, accusing the company of misleading investors and consumers about the risks of fossil fuel-driven climate change. That case also remains unresolved.
Many of these lawsuits have been brought by Democratic-led states or environmental litigation firms. The Seattle case is reportedly the first to assert wrongful death liability against oil companies based on a single individual’s death from extreme heat.
Earlier this year, the State of Washington sued President Donald Trump over his declaration of a national energy emergency. Get caught up on lawsuit that at the following link.
