The Supreme Court’s oral argument in Suncor Energy (U.S.A.) Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County exposed a question that has received comparatively little attention in the broader debate over climate litigation: How should courts understand the role of corporate deception in these cases?
“Climate deception” describes several different forms of litigation. Some lawsuits assert public nuisance, trespass, failure to warn, negligence, or related tort theories seeking compensation for the physical, economic, and governmental costs of climate change. Others challenge allegedly false or misleading environmental representations under state consumer-protection statutes. There are also hybrid cases combining consumer-protection and tort claims.
As originally pleaded, Suncor began as a hybrid case. Boulder combined common-law claims with a statutory claim under the Colorado…
This category refers to crimes committed by employees or insiders against their own organizations. It is often the most damaging because the perpetrator has authorized access to systems.
- Asset Misappropriation: The most common form, involving the theft of company resources. This ranges from simple “skimming” (taking cash before it’s recorded) to complex schemes involving the theft of inventory or intellectual property.
- Payroll Fraud: Employees may create “ghost employees” on the system, falsify their own timesheets to claim unworked overtime, or divert salary payments to their own accounts.
- Financial Statement Fraud: Management deliberately misrepresents the company’s financial health by inflating revenue or hiding liabilities to attract investors or meet performance bonuses.