From Lab to Litigation: Translating Scientific Evidence to the Court

Funded by the Environment and Climate Research Hub

Lead PI: Ass.-Prof. Dr. Stephanie Nitsch, Tenure Track Professor: Comparative Private Law with Focus on Private Environmental Law, Department of European, International and Comparative Law, University of Vienna

Co-PI: Ass.-Prof. Dr. Nils Güttler, Tenure Track Professor: History of the Natural Sciences, Department of History, University of Vienna

Project Summary

Translating science to law presents several significant challenges. The project seeks to understand how scientific evidence has, or has not, been incorporated into legal practice, thereby fostering an in-depth and collaborative approach to horizontal environmental litigation. In these cases, based on private law causes of action, plaintiffs – many of them supported by NGOs and social movements –, claim that industry corporations are obliged to mitigate emissions or pollution, compensate for costs of adaptation and compensate for damage to property, economic loss but also harm to human health.

By interweaving our expertise in comparative private law and the history of science, the project seeks to investigate the mechanisms through which evidence from the environmental sciences has been presented and evaluated in court proceedings since the 1960s. As it compiles and analyses key legal cases – both from the present and the recent past –, it identifies the obstacles that have hindered the effective use of scientific knowledge and will highlight best practice examples from various jurisdictions. Broadening our knowledge in these matters is relevant for the green transition and particularly in current cases of climate change litigation or litigation related to environmental pollution, such as microplastics or PFAS litigation.