Minnesota’s Big Oil lawsuit moves into discovery

Minnesota’s consumer fraud case against ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute (API), and Koch Industries is the latest lawsuit against Big Oil companies to move into discovery, after the Minnesota Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from the three fossil fuel industry defendants. Minnesota’s case charges Exxon, API, and Koch with violating state consumer protection laws by lying about the climate harms of fossil fuels.

The victory for Minnesota comes at the same time that API and the fossil fuel industry are pushing federal legislation that would give the companies sweeping immunity from climate lawsuits before they can reach trial. 

“The courts are doing their job, and their decisions in this climate deception lawsuit are clear: Minnesotans have a case to be made, and we deserve our day in court,” said Attorney General Keith Ellison. “As we have said all along, our taxpayers should not be on the hook for the enormous financial costs of surviving the climate impacts resulting from these defendants’ deceptive conduct. Onward to discovery and trial.”

Earlier this year, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that a lower court was right to reject the defendants’ arguments to dismiss the case. The fossil fuel defendants then appealed that decision to the Minnesota Supreme Court, only to have the court decline to hear their arguments. Minnesota’s case now joins similar lawsuits against Big Oil companies in Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, and the District of Columbia that have moved into the discovery phase.

Minnesota’s lawsuit emphasizes that while Exxon, API, and Koch were raking in massive profits, Minnesotans “suffered the devastating effects of climate change” and billions of dollars in impacts. “If Defendants had not misled the public to pad their own pockets, Minnesota would not have already incurred such large costs because of climate change and would not be facing such dramatic future costs,” the lawsuit states. The state seeks financial restitution for the harms Minnesotans have suffered from Big Oil’s climate deception and asks a state court to require the companies to fund a corrective public education campaign on the issue of climate change.

The latest development in Minnesota’s case comes as the fossil fuel industry is fighting to evade facing accountability for its climate lies forever. After months of lobbying from the industry, Republican lawmakers introduced federal legislation that aims to shield the industry from the growing wave of laws and lawsuits that aim to hold Big Oil accountable for its role in the climate crisis. The bills would give the fossil fuel industry sweeping immunity from any attempts to hold them liable for their campaign of climate deception, essentially putting the industry above the law.

“Big Oil companies have raked in massive profits at the pump while lying to the American people about the catastrophic harm of their products, and now they want to deny Americans their rightful day in court and stick taxpayers with the bill for the mess they made,” CCI President Richard Wiles said. “If fossil fuel companies have done nothing wrong, why do they need immunity?”