Exxon Mobil Loses Appeal in New York and Massachusetts Climate Lawsuits

Exxon Mobil (Exxon) lost its appeal of two lawsuits brought against the company in 2016 by the New York and Massachusetts Attorneys General, when the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled against the energy company on March 15.

In the original cases, New York and Massachusetts sued Exxon for deceptive advertising practices.

The states argued Exxon systematically and intentionally misled investors about material risks to its business from climate change, and has deceived consumers about the role its fossil fuel products play in causing climate change.

In a federal countersuit, Exxon alleged that the states’ investigations into the company’s purportedly deceptive speech regarding climate change were motivated by viewpoint discrimination and therefore violated Exxon’s constitutional rights.

Lower courts dismissed Exxon’s claims, which the company appealed.

Moot, No Jurisdiction

With the appeal pending, New York’s Attorney General closed the state’s investigation of Exxon and, in 2019, started an enforcement action against the company.

Exxon defeated the enforcement action in court, a result New York did not appeal.

Because of this, the Second Circuit Court dismissed Exxon’s claims against New York’s Attorney General as moot.

Regarding Exxon’s countersuit against Massachusetts, the Court of Appeals ruled Exxon could not sue Massachusetts’ Attorney General Maura Healey in federal court because it was pursuing the same case, and making the same arguments, in Massachusetts state court. Under the doctrine of res judicata, the legal the principle that once litigated a case can’t be relitigated, the Court ruled the case belongs in state court.

Had the company prevailed in its free speech claims in federal court, it could have used this ruling to fight similar lawsuits in other jurisdictions.

‘It’s Not Our Job’

States should not be allowed to sue Exxon or any oil and gas company for producing a legal product which the states themselves rely upon and use daily, says Gary Stone, vice-president of engineering at FiveStates Energy in Dallas.

“The company’s first response to original question about climate should have been that ‘Exxon Mobil’s job is to find, produce, transport, refine, and sell oil and natural gas products; it’s not our job to debate science questions regarding the causes or effects of man-influenced changes to a climate that has been changing constantly since the formation of the Earth,’” Stone said. “Any other questions should have been referred back to that answer, but that ship sailed a long time ago.”

‘Destroy Capitalism’

New York’s and Massachusetts’ lawsuits concerning whether Exxon-Mobil properly informed investors about what it knew about company’s activities impact on climate change may be the craziest legal probe ever, says Jay Lehr, Ph.D., a senior policy advisor with the International Climate Science Coalition.

“Human caused climate change is the biggest fraud ever perpetrated on society,” said Lehr. “Nothing Exxon Mobil does has any impact on our planet’s climate so how could the company know what it did?

“This is just the another effort by Marxists desperately trying to keep their monkey wrenches in the wheels of progress in order to destroy capitalism and institute communism, by ensuring we can no longer support our standard of living with energy derived from fossil fuels,” said Lehr.

Kenneth Artz (KApublishing@gmx.com) writes from Dallas, Texas.