Federal judge lets Hawaii climate lawsuit against fossil fuel companies proceed

A federal judge in Honolulu kept Hawaii’s climate lawsuit alive, rejecting a Trump administration attempt to stop the state from pursuing fossil fuel companies in state court. U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor dismissed the Justice Department’s bid on April 15 and relied on the long-standing principle that federal courts should not interfere with state-court proceedings.

The ruling is a significant setback for the administration’s effort to blunt climate liability claims before they reach trial. It was the second time in 2026 that federal courts blocked Justice Department efforts to head off climate suits filed in state court, underscoring how jurisdictional arguments have become a central battleground in the wider fight over climate accountability.

The dispute began after the Justice Department filed its Hawaii complaint on April 30, 2025, seeking to prevent the state from suing fossil fuel companies in state court over alleged climate-change harms. Hawaii moved ahead with its own lawsuit the same day. Governor Josh Green and Attorney General Anne Lopez said the state was targeting alleged deceptive conduct and failure to warn about climate dangers that are damaging Hawaiʻi’s public health, infrastructure, natural resources and economy.

The state’s theory is built on traditional state-law claims, including strict liability, negligence, nuisance and trespass. That framing matters because it keeps the case grounded in state court even as the federal government argues that the litigation should not proceed there. Gillmor’s decision means Hawaii can continue pressing those claims in a forum that has already become familiar with climate disputes involving local governments and major energy companies.

The broader stakes extend well beyond Honolulu. States and cities have increasingly used climate tort suits to argue that oil and gas companies misled the public about fossil fuel risks and should help pay for storm damage, sea-level rise, infrastructure losses and adaptation costs. If those cases remain in state court, fossil fuel companies face continued exposure to damages claims and the legal uncertainty that comes with them.

Hawaii’s litigation also sits against a legal backdrop that has already favored the state. On January 13, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear fossil fuel companies’ challenge to the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court’s decision allowing the City and County of Honolulu’s climate claims to proceed. That case remains alive, and Gillmor’s latest ruling keeps another front in Hawaii’s climate litigation open as well.