In a landmark legal move, Misti Leon is suing major oil companies over the death of her 65-year-old mother, Julie Leon, who died during the record-shattering heat dome that scorched the Pacific Northwest in 2021. The lawsuit, filed this week in King County Superior Court in Washington, is the first of its kind in the U.S. to claim wrongful death caused by fossil fuel companies.
Julie Leon was found unresponsive in her car on June 28, 2021, in Seattle. Emergency responders recorded her internal body temperature at 110°F. The city hit 108°F that day — its highest temperature on record.
The suit targets fossil fuel giants ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips, their subsidiaries, and Olympic Pipeline Company, alleging they knew about the climate risks tied to their products but misled the public for decades.
“Defendants understand the risks of their fossil fuel products, but many ordinary consumers do not,” the complaint states. “Through affirmative misrepresentations and omissions, Defendants have made trillions of dollars and escaped accountability for their actions.”
Misti’s case leans on a widely cited scientific attribution study that concluded the 2021 heat dome would have been “virtually impossible without human-caused climate change,” per NPR.
Legal scholars are calling the lawsuit groundbreaking. “It puts an individual human face on the massive harmful consequences of collective climate inaction,” said Yale Law professor Douglas Kysar. “The complaint tells a story of industry betrayal of public trust through the eyes of a particular person.”
Choosing a state court instead of a federal one may be a strategic advantage. State courts allow broader discovery and more leeway for damages. Crucially, civil cases in Washington only require a 10–2 jury decision and a lower burden of proof — just over 50% certainty.
If successful, the jury could award punitive damages, which are designed to punish and deter egregious behavior. Legal experts suggest the industry’s history of deception could meet that standard.
“There’s nothing more egregiously insidious,” the article argues, “than a fossil fuel industry that has had actual knowledge of the harm their products do for over 50 years and engaged in an active campaign of lies.”
Chevron attorney Theodore Boutrous dismissed the case, saying, “Exploiting a personal tragedy to promote politicized climate tort litigation is contrary to law, science, and common sense.” But critics say such responses only reinforce public distrust.
As fossil fuel executives brace for legal turbulence, observers say this case could open the door to a new wave of personal climate accountability — with everyday jurors holding corporate giants to task.
“Ten Washingtonians will decide if the era of corporate immunity ends here,” the article concluded. “Their friends in DC won’t be able to help them.”
