Court Blocks Exxon Bid to Avoid D.C. Proceedings in Climate Case

摘要

Exxon Mobil Corp. can't avoid climate litigation in a local court after federal appellate judges rejected the company's bid to freeze proceedings and pursue an appeal. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday tossed the oil giant's attempt to appeal a lower court's determination that a consumer protection case against it belongs in D.C. Superior Court. It's the latest procedural setback for Exxon in a wave of similar cases it's facing nationwide. The D.C. case features claims from the advocacy group Beyond Pesticides that Exxon violated the District of Columbia's Consumer Protection Procedures Act by exaggerating its investments in clean energy. The group filed the case in D.C. Superior Court last year, and a federal district court in March rejected Exxon's bid to move it there. Industry lawyers have repeatedly tried to switch climate cases from state to federal courts, which are seen as more favorable to corporate defendants. Exxon then took the matter to the D.C. Circuit. Remand orders typically can't be appealed, but Exxon attempted to use an exception under the Class Action Fairness Act, saying the Beyond Pesticides consumer protection case qualified as a class action.