Fifth Circuit Tosses Chevron Coastal Verdict, Sends Case Back to Federal Judge
A federal appeals court has put a $744.6 million coastal-damage verdict against Chevron back in jeopardy, sending the case to a federal judge and temporarily blocking further proceedings in state court.
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a federal district court's earlier decision to send the Plaquemines Parish lawsuit back to state court on Monday.
The three-judge panel returned the jurisdictional dispute to the federal district court to reconsider in light of an April U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gave oil companies a significant victory in their effort to move some of Louisiana's coastal lawsuits into federal court.
Chevron received a $744.6 million verdict from a Plaquemines Parish jury in April 2025 for damage attributed to decades of oil and gas operations, including roughly $575 million for land loss, $161 million for contamination, and another $8.6 million related to abandoned equipment.
The state judge never entered a final judgment on the verdict before the case was stayed, meaning Chevron has not been ordered to pay the award.