Freshfields Secures Dismissal for Rio Tinto in Multibillion-dollar Puerto Rico Climate Change Case

Global law firm Freshfields secured a dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction for Rio Tinto in a multibillion-dollar climate change case before the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico (Municipality of Bayamon et al v. Exxon Mobil Corporation et al) on September 11, 2025. Plaintiffs were municipalities of Puerto Rico who filed suit against various oil, gas and mining companies, including Rio Tinto, for damages arising from Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. Plaintiffs claimed that the severity of the hurricanes was a result of climate change and alleged that Defendants engaged in a decades-long conspiracy to minimize the perceived harm of climate change, as well as various state-law tort claims based on the defendants’ contribution to climate change. The complaint alleged consumer fraud, misrepresentation, and common law tort claims as well as Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) and antitrust claims, two novel theories of liability in the climate change litigation space.

The Court granted Rio Tinto’s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, finding that there was no jurisdiction over Rio Tinto under Puerto Rico’s long arm statute because Rio Tinto had not purposefully availed itself of Puerto Rico. The Court also found that the RICO Act did not confer personal jurisdiction over Rio Tinto because Plaintiffs could not serve Rio Tinto in the U.S. The claims against those Defendants for which the Court found it had personal jurisdiction were dismissed on statute of limitations grounds, effectively foreclosing any future U.S.-based litigation against Rio Tinto on these claims.

The team was led by David Livshiz and Jennifer Loeb and also included Noelle Williams, Jennifer King, Aaron Pultman and Augustine Hargrave.