But federal judge denies State’s request for court fees and costs
By Guy Page
A State of Vermont case against Exxon will be argued in a Vermont court, over the objections of Exxon and other large energy companies.
The federal district court in Burlington has granted the State’s motion to return the State’s consumer protection case against Exxon and other fossil fuel producers to state court. Judge Williams Sessions denied the State’s request for court fees and costs, saying Exxon’s side of the story had a reasonable basis in fact.
Using the Vermont Consumer Protection Act, the Attorney General’s Office in September, 2021 sued Exxon and others for misrepresentations and ‘greenwashing’ [misstating environmental benefit] related to fossil fuel products.
The Vermont case had been stalled shortly after it was filed due to Exxon’s dispute over jurisdiction – whether it belonged in state or federal court.
In his decision filed Feb. 6, Judge William Sessions summarized the State’s argument for jurisdiction:
“The State claims Defendants [Exxon] knew for decades that use of their products would be a major cause of harmful climate change, yet actively misrepresented and concealed that information in marketing their products to Vermont consumers. Defendants also allegedly engaged in false advertising and deceptive efforts to portray their products as climate-friendly without also disclosing known climate impacts, and to sow false doubts about climate change.”
The impacts of these decisions took place in Vermont and affected Vermont consumers, the state alleges.
In response, Exxon argued that the State has no ‘quasi-sovereign interest’ in climate change.
But Session pointed to a similar suit filed by the State of Connecticut where the judge case where a federal judge ruled the Nutmeg State was a real party in interest because it was seeking “redress not simply for the deception allegedly caused by each of ExxonMobil’s statements but rather for a decades-long campaign of alleged disinformation that resulted in ‘the stifling of an open marketplace for renewable energy.’”
Tuesday’s remand order will allow the State’s claims to proceed to the next stage of litigation in state court.
In the February 9 statement, The Attorney General’s Office said the case alleges that these companies concealed and misrepresented the connection between their products and climate change, which denied Vermont consumers the opportunity to make informed and different decisions regarding fossil fuel purchases. The State seeks to prevent the companies from engaging in further deception and to rectify past deception, civil penalties, and to make the companies relinquish the profit they made as a result of their false advertising.
The Remand Order from the federal district court is available here. All state court rulings on the merits of the case may be appealed to federal court.