It’s Thursday, October 25, and New York just filed a big ol’ lawsuit against ExxonMobil.
Interim New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood came out swinging yesterday with a lawsuit against ExxonMobil.
The issue at hand? Climate change, of course. Unlike other climate lawsuits, such as those launched by California or Colorado in recent months, this one doesn’t seek to hold Exxon responsible for its role in creating climate change. Instead, this case is about fraud: lying in order to get more money.
Underwood’s lawsuit argues that Exxon tricked investors with a “longstanding fraudulent scheme” that downplayed the financial risks climate change regulation posed to the company. See, climate regulations can hurt fossil fuel businesses. The suit alleges that Exxon overstated how prepared it was for the tough rules we’ll need in place to combat climate change, telling investors one thing while doing another.
Will Exxon wiggle out of this suit like it wiggled out of lawsuits from the cities of Oakland and San Francisco? It even got out of a previous lawsuit launched by New York City. It’s already argued that those lawsuits a) limit its right to free speech and b) are a big conspiracy. And the company has even counter-sued the people taking it to court!
Well, we’ll see. Like I said, this new lawsuit takes a different tack. And if Underwood’s team is successful, Exxon will have to pay back tons of $$$ to its investors.
The Smog
Need-to-know basis
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