{"id":317642,"date":"2024-04-14T22:17:51","date_gmt":"2024-04-14T20:17:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=317642"},"modified":"2024-04-14T22:17:53","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T20:17:53","slug":"another-cut-and-paste-lawsuit-pennsylvania-bucks-county-v-bp-plc-et-al","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=317642","title":{"rendered":"Another Cut and Paste Lawsuit: Pennsylvania Bucks County v. BP PLC, et al."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By The Gelbspan Files<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russell Cook<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s only one reason why I don\u2019t label this newest one filed on March 25, 2024<\/a> as a \u201cSher Edling boilerplate copy lawsuit\u201d \u2013 it doesn\u2019t have Sher Edling\u2019s official \u2018signature\u2019 on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It might as well, since it is a near-total copy of their Feb 20 \u201cChicago v BP<\/em>\u201d lawsuit \u2013 see my dissection of that one here<\/a>. It shares text straight out of others. No joke, witness how this March 27 Pennsylvania Record<\/em> article<\/a> quoting the Bucks County<\/em> filing as saying fossil fuel companies led<\/a> \u2026..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2026a disinformation campaign beginning as early as the 1970s to discredit the burgeoning scientific consensus on climate change, deny their own knowledge of climate change-related threats, create doubt in the minds of consumers, the media, teachers and the public about the reality and consequences of burning fossil fuels, and delay the necessary transition to a lower-carbon future.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Want to see that almost identically again? Look no farther than Sher Edling\u2019s 12\/20\/23 twin filings on behalf of two Native American Tribes<\/a> in Washington state. Those twin filings just left out whose minds the \u2018doubt\u2019 was created in. What to see that same basic paragraph wording split into two pieces? It\u2019s in Sher Edling\u2019s nearly 6\u00bd year-old filing of Marin County v Chevron<\/em><\/a>, just without the word \u201cburgeoning\u201d and a couple others. Want to see that word-for-word identical<\/em><\/strong> again? Try Sher Edling\u2019s seven weeks-old Chicago v BP<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therein currently lies the problem for Bucks County<\/em>. Chicago<\/em> gives Sher Edling second billing in that lawsuit, after the Chicago-based law firm of DiCello Levitt LLP<\/a>. In Bucks County<\/em>, there\u2019s DiCello Levitt, no mistake about that<\/a> \u2026\u2026. but no mention<\/em><\/strong> of Sher Edling whatsoever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A run-through of what earns the label \u201cboilerplate copy\u201d for most of the Sher Edling-handled lawsuits reinforces the \u2018plagiarism problem\u2019 here for Bucks County, along with how this latest lawsuit is vulnerable to being dismissed outright from being devoid of evidence to prove its main accusations \u2026 just like the others it copies from:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2713 Ye olde<\/em><\/a> reposition global warming memos
\u2014 the memo set sent unsolicited<\/a> to a public relations campaign
\u2014 rejected outright<\/a>, including its illogical narrow audiences targeting suggestions<\/a>
\u2014 tossed in the trash<\/a>
\u2014 a Sher Edling trademark accusation from day 1<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just like in\u00a0Chicago v BP<\/em><\/a>, the\u00a0Bucks County<\/em>\u00a0filing oddly puts the \u201cr\u201d between brackets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2713 the \u201cChicken Little\u201d \/ \u201cDoomsday\u201d \u2018Advertorials\u2019 pair attributed falsely to the Western Fuels Association \u201cICE\u201d-acronym public relations campaign.
\u2014 never published anywhere<\/a>
\u2014 disingenuously cropped<\/a> to delete a pair of inconvenient truths<\/a>
\u2014 the ones about which Vic Sher, lead lawyer at Sher Edling, cannot keep his details straight<\/a>
\u2014 the ones about which Naomi Oreskes, who\u2019s on retainer<\/a> with Sher Edling, claims to be an expert<\/a>
\u2014 sourced from the horribly degraded photocopy pile at \u201cGreenpeace USA ne\u00e9 Ozone Action\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just like in Chicago<\/em><\/a>, these two (worthless-as-evidence to prove disinformation campaigns exist) advertorials are on the page immediately following the \u201creposition global warming\u201d memos, with text too small and blurry to be readable<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2713 Ye olde<\/em> \u201cvictory will be achieved\u201dmemos
\u2014 never-implemented<\/a>
\u2014 citation going to the the innocuous-looking \u201cDocument Cloud\u201d file link seen in all prior filings Sher Edling filing (just four small changes to that weblink<\/a> reveals Kert Davies uploaded it to Document Cloud when he worked at Greenpeace<\/a>. Davies traces back to the old Ozone Action group<\/a> where the above-noted \u201creposition global warming\u201d memos first began getting their major ongoing media traction<\/a>)
\u2014 a memo set of basic truisms, containing no actual disinformation, where if its points were mirror-flipped, the set would be happily endorsed by Greenpeace<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just like in Chicago<\/em><\/a>, the worthless accusation about those memos appears in Bucks County<\/em> in identical fashion<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2713 \u201cBankroll\u201d \/ \u201cpaid\u201d \/ \u201cfunded scientists\u201d \u2013 my dissection of Chicago<\/em> focused on the new angle for the Sher Edling boilerplate copy lawsuits, on how they were continuing in a pattern to switch out the word \u201cbankroll\u201d for \u201cpaid\u201d in their accusation against Dr Willie Soon, and were clumsily now plagiarizing the supposedly unconnected California AG office\u2019s filing. As I showed there, it was easier to drop in a translucent blue box to show where the identical text ended<\/a> between California v Exxon<\/em> and the Sher Edling-handled<\/a> New Jersey lawsuit.
\u2014 no report offered by the Smithsonian Institution<\/a> that Dr Soon failed to properly report his funding<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bucks County<\/em> vs Chicago<\/em> concerning Sher Edling\u2019s highly suspect new plagiarism problem?  Identical.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 178-page Bucks County<\/em> filing is in a non word-searchable PDF format, but it is only a ten-page difference between it and Sher Edling\u2019s 188 page word-searchable Chicago<\/em> filing; To find what you want to see in Bucks County<\/em>, just look for it in Chicago<\/em>, then go back a few pages in Bucks County<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, I\u2019ve suggested to more than one group of people<\/a> that it would be wise to get some powerful plagiarism-detecting \/ illustrating software program<\/a> to show just how much text is ineptly shared among these supposedly unrelated law firms<\/a> filing \u201cExxonKnew\u201d-style lawsuits. These things have every appearance in the world as being efforts stemming from a common single template. That revelation by itself would shoot a huge hole in the notion about these are being independently-led actions<\/a> which have made their own discoveries of evidence proving the industry colluded with corrupt scientists in disinformation campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question is: who put together that common template at the beginning of this all?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news here: it seems just recently \u2013 perhaps \u2013 there might be a handy new means of getting to the bottom of who<\/em><\/strong> exactly promotes this traveling circus lawfare effort. As noted by the people at Energy in Depth<\/a> on the same day of the filing, questions abound on whether the Bucks County officials were fully transparent about their decision to jump on this climate lawfare bandwagon. The Bucks County Commissioners who ultimately approved this decision are a three-member panel<\/a>, two Democrats and one Republican.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My guess on March 25th was that the Republican minority member, Gene DiGirolamo, was outvoted by the majority, so I figured it might be worth a shot to email him the following day<\/a> and point out that this and other technically plagiarized \/ boilerplate copy lawsuits might actually risk being dismissed in domino fashion, and that he might try advocating that his county should self-dismiss its lawsuit to avoid that embarrassing crash. I was disappointed to see a day later in various news reports that Commissioner DiGirolamo was widely quoted in various news reports with remarks \u2013 including \u201cThese companies have known since at least the 1950s<\/em><\/a>\u201d \u2013 looking like something written by Greenpeace people. That led me to wonder if emailing him was a mistake, where he could relay what I said to the handlers of these lawfare efforts and thus prompt that mob to start deleting some of their hidden incriminating documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But less than 10 days later, as reported by EiD<\/a> via a news item in the April 4th Delaware Valley Journal<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Bucks Commissioner DiGirolamo Withdraws Support for County Lawsuit Targeting Big Oil<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Now, that is a fascinating development. Did he receive and read my email? Was he persuaded by well-informed fellow Republicans and ordinary citizens that the fossil fuel industry could not have known with any certainty<\/em><\/strong> about catastrophic global warming as far back as the 1950s in the face of reports<\/a> back then about runaway global cooling<\/a>, and my email was one more bit added to the pile he received about the folly of entering into a fatally faulty lawsuit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t know. He hasn\u2019t replied yet to my initial email or my followup inquiry a couple days ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as I recommend investigators \u2013 objective reporters \/ law firms representing the defendants in the \u201cExxonKnew\u201d lawsuits \/ congressional staffers \u2013 to calculate how much apparent plagiarism is happening in this lawfare madness, I also recommend them to see if Commissioner DiGirolamo can offer some insight on how this particular lawsuit show<\/a> landed in Bucks County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inquiring minds want to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s only one reason why I don\u2019t label\u00a0this newest one filed on March 25, 2024\u00a0as a \u201cSher Edling boilerplate copy lawsuit\u201d \u2013 it doesn\u2019t have Sher Edling\u2019s official \u2018signature\u2019 on it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":317646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691820285,691818056,691818822,691818087],"class_list":{"0":"post-317642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-big-oil","9":"tag-climate-change","10":"tag-climate-law","11":"tag-global-warming","13":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/0941728.jpg?fit=1920%2C1280&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1kDg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":308538,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=308538","url_meta":{"origin":317642,"position":0},"title":"City of Chicago v. BP PLC","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"03\/15\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The same\u00a0Tribune\u00a0which reported fifty years ago (2024-50=1974) that the changes in the climate caused by the burning of fossil fuels\u00a0was global\u00a0cooling.","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/0523407703d1577f170def9b8669f2ca5.jpg?fit=1200%2C769&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/0523407703d1577f170def9b8669f2ca5.jpg?fit=1200%2C769&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/0523407703d1577f170def9b8669f2ca5.jpg?fit=1200%2C769&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/0523407703d1577f170def9b8669f2ca5.jpg?fit=1200%2C769&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/0523407703d1577f170def9b8669f2ca5.jpg?fit=1200%2C769&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":236105,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=236105","url_meta":{"origin":317642,"position":1},"title":"Municipalities of Puerto Rico v. Exxon Mobil, Part 1","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"12\/25\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Where does the Milberg firm say the full image \u201cMost Serious Problem\u201d ad and the others source from?","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/image-794.png?fit=1200%2C643&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/image-794.png?fit=1200%2C643&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/image-794.png?fit=1200%2C643&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/image-794.png?fit=1200%2C643&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/image-794.png?fit=1200%2C643&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":292359,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=292359","url_meta":{"origin":317642,"position":2},"title":"Fisherman\u2019s Association Drops \u201cClimate Deception\u201d Lawsuit","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"12\/23\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"In a recent development that should hardly surprise those who follow the climate litigation theater, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen\u2019s Associations (PCFFA) has withdrawn its climate lawsuit.","rel":"","context":"In \"climate deception\"","block_context":{"text":"climate deception","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-deception"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-539.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-539.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-539.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-539.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-539.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":280733,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=280733","url_meta":{"origin":317642,"position":3},"title":"People of the State of California v. Exxon Mobil Corporation","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"09\/27\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Throw another one onto the \u201cgrowing number\u201d (growing number!) of \u201cExxon Knew\u201d-style lawsuits which insinuate that \u2018Big Oil\u2019 knew the burning of fossil fuels harmed the environment but deceived the public by employing \u2018shill\u2019 climate scientists in \u2018disinformation campaigns\u2019 to say there was no harm.","rel":"","context":"In \"\u201cExxon Knew\u201d\"","block_context":{"text":"\u201cExxon Knew\u201d","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=exxon-knew"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-807.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-807.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-807.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-807.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-807.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":214593,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=214593","url_meta":{"origin":317642,"position":4},"title":"Emails, Wayback Machine Gem Confirms: DiCaprio, Other Private Funders of Governmental Climate Litigation Paid Millions to \u201cClimate\u201d Lawyers Via Pass-through Charity","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"08\/20\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"New revelations solve mystery whether wealthy donors are actually paying millions for lawyers to file massive \u201cclimate\u201d lawsuits, despite contracts with taxpayer-clients set to pay same lawyers scores of millions as \u201ccontingency fee\u201d out of clients\u2019 alleged damages.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-841.png?fit=1024%2C512&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-841.png?fit=1024%2C512&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-841.png?fit=1024%2C512&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-841.png?fit=1024%2C512&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":363943,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=363943","url_meta":{"origin":317642,"position":5},"title":"California\u2019s Latest Climate Lawsuit Scheme: Sue Oil Companies for Wildfires, Ignore Reality","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/30\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Ah, California lawmakers are at it again, pushing the boundaries of legal absurdity with a bill that would allow victims of natural disasters to sue oil companies for damages. Yes, you read that correctly\u2014wildfire victims could now take ExxonMobil to court as if hurricanes and forest fires suddenly started appearing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Arson\"","block_context":{"text":"Arson","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=arson"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0dixie-fire-03-ap-jc-210819_1629413001115_sl_3x2_1600.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0dixie-fire-03-ap-jc-210819_1629413001115_sl_3x2_1600.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0dixie-fire-03-ap-jc-210819_1629413001115_sl_3x2_1600.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0dixie-fire-03-ap-jc-210819_1629413001115_sl_3x2_1600.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0dixie-fire-03-ap-jc-210819_1629413001115_sl_3x2_1600.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=317642"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":317647,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317642\/revisions\/317647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/317646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=317642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=317642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=317642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}