Over the past few years, activist investors have submitted a number of shareholder proposals to major fossil fuel companies concerning issues relating to climate change. Recently, two such investors submitted a proposal...more
The latest legal buzzword, ESG, represents the environmental, social and governance factors that many corporations are now required to consider and disclose alongside traditional financial information such as operating...more
Massachusetts highest court upheld a state trial court’s decision which allowed a closely watched climate-disclosure related challenge filed by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey against ExxonMobil (Exxon) to proceed...more
On March 15, 2020, the Second Circuit rejected an appeal brought by ExxonMobil attempting to block investigations by the New York and Massachusetts Attorneys General into historical claims made by Exxon regarding climate...more
A growing trend has emerged in the ongoing effort to hold greenhouse gas emitters accountable for their contributions to global climate change. The first wave of climate change lawsuits in the U.S. against carbon majors —...more
When Minnesota's Attorney General Keith Ellison announced in June 2020 that his office had filed a climate change lawsuit, the litigation strategy he described was relatively novel for a climate change case. Rather than...more
Earlier this week, Vermont became the latest state to file a lawsuit against the major oil companies featuring allegations focusing on climate change. This is simply the most recent of more than two dozen lawsuits that have...more
Here are last week’s curated AG and federal regulatory news stories highlighting key areas in which state and federal regulators’ decisions are having an impact across the US: J&J Settles Opioid-Related New York Suit for...more
Massachusetts AG Maura Healey obtained two orders from the Suffolk Superior Court denying Exxon Mobil Corporation’s (“Exxon”) motions to dismiss the AG’s suit alleging that Exxon misled consumers and investors about the risks...more
This week, Judge Karen Green denied Exxon Mobil’s motion to dismiss claims brought by Massachusetts under its Consumer Protection Act. The complaint alleges that Exxon Mobil both mislead Massachusetts investors in its...more
The Times digs into what it’s calling private equity’s “conquer[ing of] the American tax system”—where “slight-of-hand tax-avoidance strategies” are so “aggressive” and pervasive that “at least three private equity officials...more
A trio of recent developments illustrate growing support for Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives in the U.S., as well as abroad. ESG regulatory and legal risks now appear top of mind for institutional...more
A Bad Day for Big Oil - "ExxonMobil, Chevron lose key shareholder votes and Dutch court orders Shell to cut emissions faster." Why this is important: Issues related to climate change embroiled three oil companies this...more
Huge win yesterday for climate change activists who dealt ExxonMobil leadership a “stunning defeat” when shareholders “elected at least two board candidates nominated by activist investors who pledged to steer the company...more
May 26, 2021 was the day the energy world changed. On the same day that a Dutch court in The Hague ruled that Royal Dutch Shell could be held liable for climate change and ordered it to reduce its greenhouse gas...more
Noble Energy Shareholders OK $4.1B Sale to Chevron - "The addition of Noble will boost Chevron's U.S. shale oil holdings, making it the No. 2 producer behind EOG Resources, according to data from Rystad Energy." Why this is...more
U.S. Shale Producers Race for Federal Permits Ahead of Presidential Election - "Federal permitting in the largest U.S. oilfield in the Permian Basin, located in Texas and New Mexico, is up 80 percent in about the last three...more
Microsoft made a huge gaming move on Monday with its $7.5 billion acquisition of ZeniMax Media, the “parent company of gaming studios like Bethesda,” and maker of titles like “The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom, Quake and...more
2020 AG Elections- Utah Attorney General Fends Off Challenger in Republican Primary- •Incumbent Utah AG Sean Reyes won the July 2, 2020 Republican primary for AG over challenger David Leavitt. •AG Reyes will face...more
The Tenth Circuit has recently joined its sister circuits, the Fourth Circuit and Ninth Circuit, in finding that federal courts do not have subject-matter jurisdiction over state-law nuisance claims. A Colorado climate-change...more
In combined cases featuring California cities of San Francisco, Oakland and San Mateo and several California counties and public officials against Exxon Mobil Corporation, Texas’ Fort Worth Court of Appeal denied Exxon...more
Bayer, the German parent company of Monsanto, will pay more than $10 billion to resolve “tens of thousands of claims in the United States that its popular weedkiller Roundup causes cancer.” The settlement covers an estimated...more
On March 28, 2020, there was yet another opinion addressing whether state and local climate suits belong in state or federal court. This time, Judge William Young issued an opinion explaining his March bench decision to...more
Volatility’s the name of the game these days on Wall Street. So what was down on Monday was up (a bit, at least) yesterday, although the basics of the situation haven’t improved at all....more
This article follows on from a series of previous articles seeking to address climate change litigation in the context of insurance and reinsurance. Three different, but important, decisions in December 2019 have once again...more