The empire strikes back
Exxon Mobil is going after the lawyers who are suing it over climate change.
“Exxon is positioning itself as a victim rather than a perpetrator.” Alexandra Lahav, Connecticut law professor
As climate-change lawsuits against the oil industry mount, Exxon Mobil Corp. is taking a bare-knuckle approach rarely seen in legal disputes: It’s going after the lawyers who are suing it.
The company has targeted at least 30 people and organizations, including the attorneys general of New York and Massachusetts, hitting them with suits, threats of suits or demands for depositions. The company claims the lawyers, public officials and environmental activists are “conspiring” against it in a coordinated legal and public relations campaign.
Exxon Mobil has even given that campaign a vaguely sinister-sounding name: “The La Jolla playbook.” According to the company, two dozen people hatched a strategy against it at a meeting six years ago in an oceanfront cottage in La Jolla, Calif.
“It’s an aggressive move,” said Howard Erichson, an expert in complex litigation and a professor at Fordham University School of Law in New York. “Does Exxon really need these depositions, or is Exxon seeking the depositions to harass mayors and city attorneys into dropping their lawsuits?”
What’s at stake
Experts say Exxon Mobil’s combative strategy is a clear sign of what’s at stake for the fossil fuel industry. So far, New York City and eight California cities and counties, including San Francisco and Oakland, have sued Exxon Mobil and other oil and gas companies. They allege that oil companies denied findings of climate change scientists despite knowing that the use of fossil fuels posed “grave risk” to the planet.
Attorneys general Eric Schneiderman of New York and Maura Healey of Massachusetts are investigating whether Exxon Mobil covered up information on climate change, defrauding shareholders and consumers.
Exxon Mobil, the world’s 10th-biggest company, has denied the allegations and says its defense is intended to show that it’s being punished for not toeing the line on climate change, even though it agrees with the scientific consensus.
“The attorneys general have violated Exxon Mobil’s right to participate in the national conversation about how to address the risks presented by climate change,” said Dan Toal, a lawyer who represents the company. “That is the speech at issue here — not some straw man argument about whether climate change is real.”
‘Big scare tactic’
Plaintiff lawyers and legal experts contend the oil giant’s tactics are meant to intimidate while shifting the spotlight away from claims of environmental damage. And they say there’s nothing improper with lawyers discussing strategies together.
“It’s sort of like a big scare tactic: Reframe the debate, use it as a diversionary tactic and scare the heck out of everybody,” Sharon Eubanks, a lawyer who was at the La Jolla gathering, said of Exxon Mobil’s strategy. In recent years, the most notable attack on a plaintiff lawyer came in 2011 when Chevron Corp., claiming it was target of an extortion scheme, successfully pursued a civil racketeering suit against Steven Donziger, the attorney behind a $9.5 billion Ecuadorean judgment against the company over pollution in the Amazon.
Some experts say Exxon Mobil’s strategy goes beyond mere litigation tactics.
“People often try to use litigation to change the cultural conversation,” said Alexandra Lahav, a professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law. “Exxon is positioning itself as a victim rather than a perpetrator.”