The court denied the companies’ joint motion to certify the denials of the motions to dismiss for interlocutory appeal. The companies asked the court to certify three questions for appeal: (1) whether they could be held liable for the speech of trade associations under the CPPA and the First Amendment; (2) whether the First Amendment protected statements made as part of an alleged “campaign of denial”; and (3) whether they could be held liable under the CPPA for speech that does not concern consumer goods or services. The court said these questions did not present controlling questions of law but instead presented fact-intensive questions. The court also said that the defendants consistently misrepresented the court’s findings regarding the motions to dismiss because it had not reached legal conclusions but had merely found that the District’s allegations were sufficient to survive a motion to dismiss. The court also found that judicial economy was not a sufficient justification for interlocutory appeal.

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.

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D.C. Superior Court Denied Interlocutory Appeal of Denials of Fossil Fuel Companies’ Motions to Dismiss District’ Consumer Protection Action

Filed

United States of America

District of Columbia

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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

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.

This sector involves the wholesale and retail selling of goods.

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

D.C. Superior Court Denied Interlocutory Appeal of Denials of Fossil Fuel Companies’ Motions to Dismiss District’ Consumer Protection Action

Fossil fuel

Economic sector