US judge tosses out Calif lawsuit against carmakers
17 Sep 2007 23:13:45 GMT Source: Reuters
(Adds details from court decision) SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 17 (Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge tossed out a lawsuit by California on Monday seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from six major automakers for damaging the state with climate-changing greenhouse gases. The suit, filed in September, targets General Motors Corp <GM.N>, Ford Motor Co <F.N>, Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T>, the U.S. arm of Germany's DaimlerChrysler AG <DCXGn.DE> and the North American units of Japan's Honda Motor Co <7267.T> and Nissan Motor Co Ltd <7201.T>. The auto industry called the lawsuit a "nuisance" action. Martin Jenkins, a federal judge in the Northern District of California, said the issue was a political rather than legal matter. "The Court is left to make an initial decision as to what is unreasonable in the context of carbon dioxide emissions," Jenkins wrote. "Such an exercise would require the Court to create a quotient or standard in order to quantify any potential damages that flow from Defendants' alleged act of contributing thirty percent of California's carbon dioxide emissions. "The balancing of those competing interests is the type of initial policy determination to be made by the political branches, and not this Court." (Reporting by Adam Tanner)
