AG: ‘TURNING POINT’ VS. EXXON
Fights to get local suit dismissed
Attorney General Maura Healey — riding the momentum of a federal ruling that tossed one of two Exxon Mobil lawsuits filed against her — is arguing that decision undercuts the second local lawsuit against her and her investigation into what the company knew about climate change.
Seth Schofield, Healey’s assistant attorney general, filed the U.S. district judge’s blistering decision with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Friday, noting that lawsuit “sought to stop the same investigation at issue in this case.”
Exxon Mobil filed the lawsuits against Healey in federal court and locally in an effort to prevent her demand for millions of company documents about climate change, arguing in the lawsuits that her investigation was “nothing more than a weak pretext for an unlawful exercise of government power to further political objectives.”
But U.S. District Court Judge Valerie Caprone dismissed the federal lawsuit with prejudice last week, arguing that Exxon Mobil offered “extremely thin allegations and speculative inferences.”
“In a wild stretch of logic, Exxon contends that the AGs’ ‘overtly political tone,’ and comments on public ‘confusion’ relative to climate change show that their intent is to chill dissenting speech,” Caprone wrote.
Allegations that the AGs “are pursuing bad faith investigations in order to violate Exxon’s constitutional rights are implausible and therefore must be dismissed for failure to state a claim,” Caproni wrote.
Healey, who had joined forces with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in seeking to dismiss the lawsuit, cheered the decision, calling it “a turning point in our investigation and a victory for the people.” Exxon Mobil spokesman Scott Silvestri said the company is “evaluating Caprone’s decision and considering our next steps.”
The legal maneuverings come as Exxon Mobil allies brought a campaign to undermine Healey’s investigation to her backyard. Jay Timmons, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, was in Boston yesterday arguing that the climate change investigations could run up the cost of fuel and impact consumers.
Timmons condemned the investigations, saying they are “trying to soak energy producers in an effort to fill the pockets of trial lawyers and to build the profiles of politicians.”
The investigations, “will end up failing, but it may go through several iterations if you have an activist judge that decides that they want to come in on the side of some of these politicians,” Timmons added.