Judge: Exxon Must Hand Over Decades' Worth Of Climate Documents In MA/NY Fraud Case

[hatrack]

A Massachusetts judge has refused to excuse Exxon Mobil Corp from a request by the state's attorney general to hand over decades worth of documents on its views on climate change, state officials said on Wednesday.

The decision by Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Heidi Brieger denying Exxon's request for an order exempting it from handing over the documents represents a legal victory for Attorney General Maura Healey, who is investigating the world's largest publicly traded oil company's climate policies. "This order affirms our longstanding authority to investigate fraud," Healey said on Twitter following the decision, adding that Exxon "must come clean about what it knew about climate change."

Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers said the company was "reviewing the decision to determine next steps."

Healey is one of two state prosecutors, the other being her counterpart in New York, investigating whether Exxon knowingly misled its shareholders and the public as to what it knew about climate change. The investigations follow separate reports by online news publication Inside Climate News and the Los Angeles Times showing that Exxon worked to play down the risks of climate change despite its own scientists' having raised concerns about it decades earlier.

EDIT

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-exxon-mobil-massachusetts-idUSKBN14W04Z

[procon]

1. The paper shredders must be smokin' at Exxon.

Let the consequences match the damages their deliberate campaign of lies and misinformation has cost the entire planet. Fines and penalties should equal Exxon's profits over their decades long deception.

[Phoenix61]

2. The problem with fining companies

is they pass on the cost to consumers. Until CEO's and top level management is held personally accountable for these actions business will not change.