In the District of Columbia’s lawsuit asserting that fossil fuel industry defendants violated its consumer protection law by misleading consumers about their products’ role in causing climate change, the D.C. Superior Court granted the District of Columbia’s motion to compel Exxon Mobil Corporation and ExxonMobil Oil Corporation (together, Exxon) to produce all documents produced in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ <a href="https://www.climatecasechart.com/collections/commonwealth-v-exxon-mobil-corp-_5d9aaf">lawsuit</a> against Exxon. Noting that Exxon conceded that there was “substantial overlap” between the two cases, the court found that Exxon’s productions in the Massachusetts case were “at least minimally relevant” to D.C.’s claims in this case. The court was not persuaded by Exxon’s arguments that the documents produced in the Massachusetts case were not sufficiently relevant because that case also included an investor deception case or because that case involved sales and advertising to Massachusetts consumers while this case involved D.C. consumers. In addition, the court rejected Exxon’s arguments that the temporal scope of the Massachusetts case extended back to 1976, while D.C.’s allegations claims began in 2000. The court also was not persuaded by Exxon’s arguments that it had agreed to produce relevant documents from the Massachusetts case and that introduction of irrelevant documents would delay the litigation.

Lawsuit filed by the District of Columbia against oil and gas companies for allegedly violating the Consumer Protection Procedures Act by misleading consumers about “the central role their products play in causing climate change.”

District of Columbia v. Exxon Mobil Corp.

<p>This entry was provided by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

D.C. Court Ordered Exxon to Produce All Documents Produced in Massachusetts Case in D.C. Consumer Protection Suit Against Fossil Fuel Companies

Filed

The Climate Litigation Database

Find climate change litigation data and indicators for {text}.

{text} litigation

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides Climate Litigation Database, a comprehensive database of US and Global climate change caselaw

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Search the Climate Litigation Database

An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Actions to reduce emissions in energy generation and supply.

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

The activities of industries involved in the production, distribution, and sale of energy, including electricity, gas, and renewables.

This sector creates and distributes information and entertainment through television, radio, print, and digital platforms.

Slow onset events evolve gradually from incremental changes over many years or from increased frequency or intensity of recurring events. As defined in the Cancun Adaptation Framework (2010), slow onset events include risks and impacts from rising temperatures, desertification, biodiversity loss, land and forest degradation, glacial retreat, ocean acidification, sea level rise, and salinization.

D.C. Court Ordered Exxon to Produce All Documents Produced in Massachusetts Case in D.C. Consumer Protection Suit Against Fossil Fuel Companies

Risk

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Economic sector