Climate litigation and the development of private law claims after Smith v Fonterra
In Smith v Fonterra [2024] NZSC 5, the Supreme Court allowed Mr Smith’s appeal and reinstated claims against seven emitters in public nuisance, negligence and a proposed climate system damage tort, concluding that “In this area, the common law must develop, if at all, in the fertile fields of trial, not on the barren rocks of a strike out application.” In this lecture, Simon considers how overseas and New Zealand common law courts are responding to climate litigation claims against private actors; where the fertile ground and barren rocks may be for plaintiffs and defendants; and the implications of Smith for the development of climate litigation in New Zealand.
Speaker: Simon Ladd, Barrister at Shortland Chambers