The Vermont Superior Court granted a joint motion for a protective order limiting use of designated confidential and highly confidential materials produced in litigation to use only in this litigation and restricting the uploading of such materials to certain “AI Tools.” The court, however, denied the defendants’ request that the protective order apply to all materials produced in discovery. The defendants argued that a broader scope for the protective order was warranted because discovery could be “deployed for adverse publicity, policy advocacy, or to seed new lawsuits.” The court agreed with the State that defendants did not establish “good cause” for a broad protective order, finding that the defendants’ claims were “precisely the type of vague, broad, and unsubstantiated allegations of harm that are insufficient to support the issuance of a protective order.” 

Consumer protection lawsuit brought by the State of Vermont against fossil fuel companies alleging deceptive and unfair business practices in connection with the companies' sale of their products.

Vermont v. Exxon Mobil Corp.

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In Vermont Climate Consumer Protection Case, State Court Denied Fossil Fuel Companies’ Request for Protective Order Limiting Use of All Discovery Materials

Filed

United States of America

Vermont

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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.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

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

In Vermont Climate Consumer Protection Case, State Court Denied Fossil Fuel Companies’ Request for Protective Order Limiting Use of All Discovery Materials

Fossil fuel

Economic sector