The company has argued that federal court is the correct venue for cases of this type because they involve oil and gas production that was part of a federally sanctioned effort during World War II to make aviation fuel. Chevron and the companies it bought “worked for the federal government to refine aviation gasoline — a vital wartime product that powered Allied air forces to victory,” Sauer argued in the brief.
Plaquemines Parish, which sued the companies, has argued successfully in lower courts that the oil in question was not directly linked to wartime production and therefore the case should remain in state court.
A long legal saga
The case before the Supreme Court relates to one of more than 40 similar lawsuits across south Louisiana, all spearheaded by Baton Rouge attorney John Carmouche of law firm Talbot, Carmouche and Marcello, that seek damages from oil companies for coastal restoration.