Industry Pushes Exxon Climate Case Into Delaware Federal Court

摘要

Oil industry lawyers on Friday moved a closely watched Delaware climate lawsuit from state to federal court, a legal maneuver companies have employed repeatedly as similar cases stack up. Delaware filed the case in state court in September, accusing Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., and other oil majors, plus the American Petroleum Institute, of deceiving the public about the role fossil fuels play in driving climate change. 1.“The scope of this theory is breathtaking-it would reach the sale of oil and gas anywhere in the world, including all past and otherwise lawful sales, such as sales to the federal government and sales directed by the federal government,” Chevron lawyers said in a Friday filing that transferred the litigation to the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. 2.Federal courts are viewed as a more favorable venue for corporate defendants. Oil industry lawyers have transferred several other new climate cases to federal courts over the past month, including lawsuits from Connecticut, Hoboken, N.J., and Charleston, S.C. 3.The industry used the same tactic to defend against similar climate cases state and local governments began filing two years ago. After protracted legal battles, judges largely allowed the lawsuits to proceed in state courts, but many proceedings are now on hold as the U.S. Supreme Court takes up a related legal question.