Posted on April 20, 2026
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday handed oil and gas companies a significant procedural win in Louisiana’s long-running coastal damage litigation, ruling unanimously that certain lawsuits can be moved from state to federal court.
The decision comes a year after a landmark $745 million verdict against Chevron in a state court in Plaquemines Parish — but attorneys on the winning side of that case say the high court’s ruling does not overturn that judgment and may have limited impact overall.
In a statement provided to WWL Louisiana, Chevron said it “applauds the Supreme Court’s unanimous judgment recognizing that these lawsuits belong in federal court,” arguing the claims stem from work performed under a federal directive to refine aviation gas during World War II and should be litigated in a federal court, not a state one.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, who had supported the lawsuits as attorney general, said Friday he was happy to continue the cases in federal court.
“This does not say the merits of the case are not good. It does not dismiss the case. And it only affects a certain number of those cases,” he said.
Current Attorney General Liz Murrill said it didn’t matter if the case moves to federal court, she’s confident Chevron would still be held liable for causing damage.
The state had been counting on the massive jury verdict as a major boost to its $50 billion coastal master plan to help Plaquemines and other coastal parishes restore damaged marshes.
The Supreme Court ruling centers on a narrow but consequential legal question: whether energy companies can remove certain coastal lawsuits from Louisiana state courts to federal courts based on a defense that they were essentially drilling for crude oil under a federal order and should be able to defend their actions in federal, not state courts.
Limited scope, continued fight
John Carmouche, the trial lawyer who secured last year’s Plaquemines verdict, said the decision affects only a subset of the coastal damage cases — and does not resolve the underlying liability issues.
In a phone interview, Carmouche said only about 11 of the 42 pending coastal lawsuits involve the specific wartime fuel-refining activities cited by the Supreme Court. And even among those 11 cases, the Supreme Court ruling only sends the case back to federal district courts to reconsider whether they have legitimate federal claims, it doesn’t definitively say they don’t belong in state courts.
“We’re going to go in front of [federal] Judge Jay Zainey and have him rule whether there’s a colorable defense,” Carmouche said, referring to another decision that must be made before the cases can be removed from state court.
He said Chevron’s argument that its predecessor companies drilled for oil to produce aviation gasoline during World War II may not be enough to remove the cases to federal court if district judges decide that damage caused after 1980 is too far removed from the work done 40 years earlier.
“So, as of right now, that $745 million verdict still stands,” Carmouche said. “The Supreme Court sent it back to the 5th Circuit to make more decisions, but it’s not an end-all-be-all decision on whether this case belongs in federal court.”
Background: a landmark coastal verdict
The ruling lands against the backdrop of one of the most closely watched environmental cases in Louisiana history.
In April 2025, a Plaquemines Parish jury found Chevron liable for decades of coastal damage tied to its predecessor, Texaco, awarding $745 million for marsh restoration. The case marked the first trial victory in a wave of lawsuits filed a decade earlier by coastal parishes seeking to hold oil companies accountable for land loss and environmental degradation.
The verdict intensified a long-running political and legal battle, with industry groups warning of economic fallout and trial lawyers and local officials arguing the lawsuits are essential to funding coastal restoration.
Chevron has appealed that verdict, and Friday’s US Supreme Court decision adds another layer of complexity.
What happens next
The immediate impact of the ruling is procedural, not final.
The Plaquemines verdict remains in place pending appeal and further rulings on whether it should have been removed to federal court in 2024, before the 2025 trial.
Industry groups praised the decision as a step toward what they see as a more appropriate legal forum.
“These misguided lawsuits never belonged in state court,” said Tommy Foucheux, president of the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association. “Hopefully, the state will take this opportunity now to bring these lawsuits to an end, so we can collectively focus on the energy opportunities that lie ahead for Louisiana.”
