Connecticut Prevails Over Exxon's Attempt to Escape Climate Deception Lawsuit

Connecticut scored a major victory yesterday in its lawsuit seeking to hold ExxonMobil accountable for “an ongoing, systematic campaign of lies and deception” about the role of the company’s fossil fuel products in causing climate change, after a state court judge denied Exxon’s motion to dismiss the case.

The lawsuit, filed by Connecticut Attorney General William Tong in 2020 under the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act, seeks to make Exxon

• Stop lying in violation of the state’s consumer protection act;
• Pay $5,000 for each time Exxon violated the act;
• Disclose climate research and studies in Exxon’s possession;
• “Fund a corrective education campaign to remedy the harm inflicted by decades of disinformation” — similar to how tobacco companies have been made to fund efforts to educate the public about the harms of smoking;
• Pay “equitable relief” for “past and ongoing deceptive acts and practices associated with climate change” that will require costs to mitigate, adapt, and make Connecticut more resilient; and
• Pay restitution and disgorgement to Connecticut “as appropriate to rectify” Exxon’s “unlawful behavior.”

Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, released the following statement:

“Connecticut is now one major step closer to putting ExxonMobil on trial for lying to consumers about the catastrophic harms caused by their fossil fuel products. It’s time for the people of Connecticut to have their day in court to hold Exxon accountable for its climate lies and make the company pay for the damages its deception has caused.”

Connecticut’s victory is the latest defeat for Exxon in climate accountability lawsuits facing the oil giant.

Judges have allowed similar lawsuits against Exxon and other Big Oil companies in Massachusetts, Hawai`i, Colorado, and Maryland, to advance toward discovery and trial in state courts. A judge in Delaware also ruled that a limited version of that state’s lawsuit could proceed toward trial in state court, while the City of Baltimore is planning to appeal a ruling in its case that is at odds with the others. Exxon and other fossil fuel companies are separately urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up and overturn a Hawai`i Supreme Court ruling in favor of Honolulu’s climate accountability lawsuit, but the federal preemption issues presented in their petitions were not considered in the recent decision in Connecticut’s lawsuit.

Background on State and Local Climate Accountability Lawsuits Against Big Oil

Ten attorneys general — in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico — and dozens of municipal or tribal governments in California, Colorado, Hawai`i, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Washington, and Puerto Rico, have filed lawsuits to hold major oil and gas companies accountable for deceiving the public about their products’ role in climate change. Earlier this year, the attorney general of Michigan announced plans to take fossil fuel companies to court.