A federal district court has dismissed a class action lawsuit filed by Henry Gifford, owner of New York-based Gifford Fuel Savings Inc., and others who claimed that the U.S. Green Building Council made false claims to consumers.
In an Aug. 17 ruling, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said that Gifford and the other plaintiffs lacked the legal standing to sue because they do not compete with the USGBC. As a result, the court did not address the broader question of the credibility of the organization's claims about the energy efficiency of buildings it certifies under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.