The Minnesota Supreme Court denied fossil fuel industry defendants’ petitions for further review of the Minnesota Court of Appeals’ January 2026 decision affirming denial of the defendants’ motions to dismiss the State of Minnesota’s lawsuit alleging that the defendants caused climate change-related injuries to the State by misleading the public regarding the threat of climate change and their products’ connection to the threat. The questions the defendants asked the Supreme Court to review included whether the Court of Appeals improperly ruled on an issue regarding the applicability of Minnesota’s anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) law that the parties did not raise and whether the Court of Appeals correctly interpreted the anti-SLAPP statute not to apply to claims seeking equitable relief. The defendants also sought review on questions regarding the constitutionality of Minnesota’s statute providing for general personal jurisdiction.

Action brought by Minnesota against members of the fossil fuel industry for allegedly causing climate change harms by misleading the public by downplaying the threat of climate change and the role of their products in causing climate change.

State v. American Petroleum Institute

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Minnesota Supreme Court Declined to Review Decision Allowing State to Proceed with Climate Deception Claims Against Fossil Fuel Defendants

Filed

United States of America

Minnesota

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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.