After the transfer of Exxon Mobil Corporation’s (Exxon’s) lawsuit seeking to block investigations by the New York and Massachusetts attorneys general from Texas federal court to the federal district court for the Southern District of New York, the New York court declined to reopen jurisdictional discovery into the attorneys general’s motivations for commencing the investigations. The court also ordered the dismissal without prejudice of the attorneys’ general pending motions to dismiss and set a schedule for renewal of the motions. Briefing on the motions was to be completed by June 30, 2017. The order authorized the attorneys general to seek dismissal on the grounds of personal jurisdiction, ripeness, abstention pursuant to the Colorado River doctrine (which may apply where there are concurrent federal and state lawsuits pending), and collateral estoppel and res judicata. The court did not authorize the defendants to seek dismissal based on Younger abstention—the abstention doctrine on which the attorneys general primarily had relied in their motions before the Texas federal court. (Younger abstention applies when ongoing state judicial proceedings implicate important state interests and provide adequate opportunity to raise constitutional challenges.) Expressing concern that the attorneys general had commenced their investigations in bad faith, the Texas federal court had ordered discovery into the motivations of the attorneys general to determine whether the “bad faith” exception to Younger abstention applied. The New York court’s order followed a status conference held on April 21, at which the judge reportedly stated that she had a “<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21042017/exxon-mobil-climate-change-scandal-fraud-investigations-new-york-schneiderman">different view</a>” of the case than the Texas judge.

Action by Exxon Mobil Corporation to bar enforcement of civil investigative demand issued by Massachusetts attorney general and subpoena issued by New York attorney general.


Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Schneiderman

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New York Federal Court Declined to Reopen Jurisdictional Discovery in Exxon’s Action Against Attorneys General; Schedule Set for Renewed Motions to Dismiss

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United States of America

New York

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