Duane Morris Takeaway: This week’s episode features Duane Morris partners Jerry Maatman and Brad Thompson with their discussion of Duane Morris’ Energy, Oil, & Gas Class Action Review, highlighting several trends and developments shaping class action litigation in this industry.
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Episode Transcript
Jerry Maatman: Welcome to our listeners! Thank you for being here for our weekly podcast, the Class Action Weekly Wire. I’m Jerry Maatman, a partner at Duane Morris, and I’m pleased that joining me today is my colleague and partner, Brad Thompson, who is a head of the Duane Morris Energy Industry Group. Welcome to our podcast today, Brad.
Brad Thompson: Thanks, Jerry. Happy to be here.
Jerry: Today on the podcast, we’re discussing the publication of a new desk reference in our brand-new e-book, The Duane Morris Energy, Oil, & Gas Class Action Review. Listeners can find the e-book on our blog, the Duane Morris Class Action Defense Blog. Brad, can you tell our listeners a bit about the review?
Brad: Sure thing, Jerry. So, Duane Morris has now released the fifth in a series of industry-focused class action publications, and this particular publication analyzes key-related rulings and developments from 2025 and significant legal decisions and trends that are impacting the class action space in the energy industry for 2026. We hope that companies and employers will benefit from this resource in compliance with these ever-evolving laws and standards.
Jerry: It seems the global energy landscape in 2025 underwent a significant transformation. Oil and gas companies, of course, continue to play a foundational role in industrial development and economic growth, but they’re ever increasingly coming under scrutiny from regulators, investors, consumers, and plaintiffs’ lawyers. How do you see, Brad, the tide turning in the class action space in this industry?
Brad: Yeah, Jerry, we certainly live in interesting times, to put it mildly, and this is an especially important topic right now. The litigation environment around energy companies has changed dramatically over the last several years, both in terms of its scope and complexity, and I think one thing that stands out today is that these lawsuits are no longer limited to what were traditional disputes over, maybe, contracts, like supply agreements or perhaps kind of isolated contamination events, or explosions, and those sorts of lawsuits.
And I think, Jerry, as demand for energy generally continues to rise globally, and those commodity prices continue to climb, I think we should expect that energy companies will find their earnings increasingly subject to class action attention and attacks, and so these cases are becoming broader, more ambitious, and historically, many energy-related lawsuits that focused on, again, those more localized environmental issues, or perhaps royalty disputes or commercial disagreements are expanding.
What we saw in 2025 is that plaintiffs are advancing claims that are tied to more long-term environmental impacts, these alleged failures to disclose climate-related risks. Of course, these just broader theories about corporate responsibility in general, and in many respects, I think these suits are attempting to address issues that more traditionally were viewed more as policy questions, particularly within the energy policy discussion and debate, rather than purely litigation questions as we’re seeing now.
Jerry: In my practice of defending companies and class actions for over four decades, what I’m seeing is a migration of very talented plaintiffs’ lawyers that follow the money, and the cases increase in size, they’re worth more, and what I saw in 2025 was a migration of these talented lawyers into the energy space, such that, we’re seeing kind of new theories, new lawyers in the space, and much bigger cases. What is your sense in terms of your dealing with your clients in the industry space in terms of that phenomenon?
Brad: Yeah, I think we should expect that migration, to use your term, will continue, and judges are increasingly confronting questions that are extraordinarily complex, both from a legal perspective, but also from a scientific perspective. You know, by way of example, how should liability be apportioned for something like environmental effects that may have developed over many decades involved a very complicated chain of title, countless entities and numerous individuals. In those scenarios, what type of climate risk disclosure is legally sufficient? To what extent can private litigation be used as some kind of mechanism to potentially drive systemic or policy change in such a global industry? These are certainly not easy questions, and courts across jurisdictions are certainly approaching them differently.
Jerry: In terms of the analytics that we study, we saw in 2025 as compared to 2024, a growth by about 10-15% in the filings of class actions nationwide. Is it your sense in the oil and gas industry that we’re going to see an increase in the activity in terms of the filing of class action lawsuits that challenge the industry?
Brad: Yeah, going back to your earlier point, Jerry, about kind of following the money, I think, again, you know, we live in interesting global times, and these energy industry issues will continue to be at the forefront of geopolitical focus. And so, first of all, there’s going to be kind of inherently a heightened public awareness surrounding climate and environmental issues – so oil and gas companies will certainly be at the center of that focus. And moreover, investors, regulators are increasingly demanding more transparency regarding sustainability practices, things like climate-related risk, exposure. Plaintiff firms are becoming increasingly sophisticated in identifying large-scale theories that can support class treatment, or at least class theories with increasingly larger damage model theories, so at the same time, scientific modeling and data analytics have become much more advanced – which plaintiffs often use to support their causation theories and damages models. So, you know, whether these new and emerging theories ultimately succeed, certainly another question, but they are shaping litigation strategy in 2026.
Jerry: Talking about the defense side of the V in these cases, given that the stakes are so enormous, what do you see in terms of selection of defense and how defenses are crafted and engineered in the industry?
Brad: Sure. The outcome of a class action can be significant, potentially devastating for a company – not only financially, but reputationally, operationally. And that’s why corporate defendants have to approach these cases from a broader vantage point, not just in a litigation vacuum. A successful defense strategy today has to be thoughtful, multifaceted. It’s probably no longer enough to just narrowly focus on a single procedural issue or an isolated factual dispute, and companies to have coordinated strategies that involve not just litigation defense, but also regulatory compliance, internal governance, public disclosures, there’s insurance considerations, and sometimes crisis management response type considerations as well, so I think early case assessment is critical, because that key class certification decision can dramatically alter the trajectory of these cases.
Jerry: I’ve always thought the M.O. of the plaintiffs’ bar was to find the client, file the lawsuit, certify it, and then monetize it. And that class certification, obviously, is the holy grail when it comes to class actions, and that once a case is certified, it has weight, the plaintiffs’ attorney has leverage. So, in terms of the oil and gas and energy industry, what are your thoughts with respect to the importance of class certification?
Brad: Oh, extremely important. These energy-related cases, as you know, Jerry, often involve highly individualized facts. There’s a variety of regulatory frameworks, both at the state and the federal level, and multifaceted, complicated causation-type questions and issues. And so those issues can create significant hurdles for plaintiffs that are trying to establish those key factors, like commonality and predominance under those class action standards.
Jerry: It sounds like, then, from a holistic defense perspective, that these sorts of complexities certainly require careful planning, engagement of experts to assist very early on in the litigation, and that these lawsuits are basically shaping the future of energy law more broadly.
Brad: Yeah, Jerry, I think that’s exactly what’s happening, and these cases are going to influence, and are already influencing, how energy companies think about things like risk management, environmental disclosures, governance structures, and their long-term business planning. And we’re also seeing litigation become a part of just this broader energy transition conversation globally. And as our world moves towards more energy from all sources, which of course includes alternative or renewable energy sources, traditional energy companies are also navigating these enormous legal and commercial pressures simultaneously.
Jerry: Well, that brings us back conveniently to close the loop in terms of the purpose behind this resource, and why it’s so timely for clients in the energy space.
Brad: Yeah, exactly. I mean, the goal here was to create a practical and comprehensive desk reference guide for corporate counsel, energy industry professionals that are facing these increasingly complex challenges, and we wanted to provide a clear understanding of the various legal theories that are driving the current litigation and class action climate, and the broader implications for the future of energy law.
Jerry: Well, I concur. The field is rapidly evolving, so companies can be helped by a resource like this from both a strategic and practical sense. Listeners, of course, can download a copy for free of the e-book on the Class Action Defense Blog. Well, thank you, Brad, for being here today, and thank you, loyal listeners, for tuning in.
Brad: Thanks so much for having me, Jerry. It was great to be here. Really appreciate it.