The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request from ExxonMobil and other fossil fuel groups to move a Minnesota climate change lawsuit from state to federal court, a venue considered more advantageous for the industry.
The three defendants (Exxon, Koch Industries, and the American Petroleum Industry) petitioned the Supreme Court in November to have their lawsuit heard in federal court rather than a state court in Minnesota, where the lawsuit was filed.
The Minnesota suit accused the groups of strategizing to deceive the public about climate science and global warming for some 30 years in an effort to protect their business interests and their bottom lines.
“The fraud, deceptive advertising, and other violations of Minnesota state law and common law that the lawsuit shows they perpetrated have harmed Minnesotans’ health and our state’s environment, infrastructure, and economy,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in filing the lawsuit.
The lawsuit accuses the groups of violating consumer fraud laws, as well as deceptive trade practices and false advertising — charges that the groups have vehemently denied.
Federal courts are often more sympathetic to corporations than state courts, which was likely a key factor behind their request.
In requesting the writ of certiorari, the oil and gas groups argued that climate change cases are an issue of increasing national importance that would be best resolved at the federal level. The groups argued that individual state claims are a “blatant attempt to set national energy policy” through separate consumer protection laws.
The Supreme Court’s rejection comes as oil and gas groups have been named in a rising number of climate change-related lawsuits that the groups argue would be best resolved at the federal level.
Such questions will only continue to arise as new climate change cases are filed, the defendants said, and are “proceeding full speed ahead in state courts across the country,” including in Hawaii, California, Colorado, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New York.
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As of this writing, more than 30 states, cities, and counties have filed similar lawsuits against fossil fuel companies.
The Supreme Court did not give a reason for declining the request. Just one Supreme Court justice, Brett Kavanaugh, said he would have heard the case.