Federal appeals court upholds decision to move Line 5 lawsuit to state court

On Friday, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals denied Enbridge Energy’s request for a rehearing of its June decision to send Attorney General Dana Nessel’s lawsuit to shut down Line 5 back to state court.

The Attorney General argued before the Sixth Circuit in March that the case seeking to shut down the oil pipeline must be sent back to state court, where it was originally filed and litigated for over a year. Nessel and Enbridge had both filed motions asking the state court to decide the case, but Enbridge then removed the case to federal court.

On appeal, Attorney General Nessel argued that Enbridge’s removal was past the deadline and that legal authority over the pipeline should be decided at the state level. A federal trial court agreed .

The Court of Appeals then granted Nessel permission to appeal in July of 2023 before hearing oral arguments in March of this year. In June, the Court of Appeals agreed that Enbridge’s removal was untimely and ordered the case remanded back to state court.

Enbridge requested a rehearing by the full bench of the Court of Appeals, which the Court denied in its decision on Friday.