ExxonMobil prevailed Tuesday in its much-watched legal battle with the state of New York, beating back claims that it misled investors for years in how it calculated the financial risks of climate change.
The high-profile trial, which saw testimony from former ExxonMobil chief executive and former secretary of state Rex Tillerson, marked the culmination of a more-than-three-year probe under three different New York attorneys general, during which Exxon handed over millions of documents about its internal dealings.
But that extensive effort wasn’t enough to convince New York Supreme Court Judge Barry Ostrager that the oil and natural gas giant broke state securities laws when describing to shareholders how it analyzed the effect of future greenhouse gas regulations on the company’s bottom line.
During a 12-day trial this fall, the state tried to wield a powerful anti-fraud law, called the Martin Act, that does not require prosecutors to prove that a company intended to deceive investors. The office of Letitia James, New York’s current attorney general, tried to show the company lied to investors by keeping two sets of books – one public, one private – for estimating the cost of complying with future climate regulations.
But even with that relatively low bar, Ostrager found New York’s allegations “to be without merit” and the use of the state’s securities law to be a stretch in this case.
“Nothing in this opinion is intended to absolve ExxonMobil from responsibility for contributing to climate change,” Ostrager wrote in his ruling. “ExxonMobil does not dispute either that its operations produce greenhouse gases or that greenhouse gases contribute to climate change. But ExxonMobil is in the business of producing energy, and this is a securities fraud case, not a climate change case.”
ExxonMobil saw the decision as…
Source: FuelFix
