State v. American Petroleum Institute

The Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of fossil fuel industry defendants’ motions to dismiss the State of Minnesota’s lawsuit alleging that the defendants engaged in a campaign to deceive Minnesota consumers and the public about fossil fuels and climate change. First, the appellate court found that the district court’s exercise of consent jurisdiction under the Minnesota Foreign Corporation Act (MCPA) did not violate the U.S. Constitution’s Due Process Clause or dormant Commerce Clause. Regarding the Due Process Clause, the appellate court rejected contentions that recent U.S. Supreme Court precedents called into question the exercise of consent jurisdiction. Regarding the dormant Commerce Clause, the appellate court found that the defendants failed to show that the MCFA favored in-state economic interests over out-of-state interests or expressly provided for differential treatment of in-state and out-of-state economic interests. Second, the appellate court concluded that Minnesota’s anti-SLAPP (Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation) statutes did not apply because the State’s lawsuit sought equitable remedies and not damages and therefore did not fall within the anti-SLAPP statutes’ definition of “judicial claim.” Because there was no judicial claim, an anti-SLAPP motion could not be filed.