The District of Columbia Superior Court denied fossil fuel companies’ motions for reconsideration of the court’s April 21, 2025 orders denying their motions to dismiss the District of Columbia’s lawsuit alleging that they violated D.C.’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act (CPPA) by misleading consumers regarding the role of their products in causing climate change. First, the court rejected the arguments of the Shell, Exxon, and Chevron defendants that allegedly misleading statements they made about their products’ environmental benefits were indistinguishable from statements made by the BP defendants that the court found to be inactionable under the CPPA. Second, the court denied reconsideration to the Chevron defendants as to their argument that statements about a fuel additive that they stopped selling in the District more than 15 years earlier were immaterial as a matter of law. Third, the court rejected the BP defendants’ contention that the court erroneously concluded that natural gas was a good BP sold to D.C. consumers; the court said that even if it had conflated the direct sale of gasoline to D.C. consumers with sale of natural gas in D.C., the District of Columbia had sufficiently alleged “that BP paints itself as an environmental steward in order to sell goods” to those consumers. The court said its finding that the CPPA’s “goods and services” requirement was satisfied was not dependent on D.C. consumers’ purchase of natural gas.

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 Reconsideration of Denials of Fossil Fuel Companies’ Motions to Dismiss District’ Consumer Protection Action

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United States of America

District of Columbia

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

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Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector