Minnesota AG Filed Lawsuit against Major Fossil Fuel Entities over Efforts to Mislead Consumers about Climate Change

JUNE 24, 2020

On June 24, 2020, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a lawsuit in state court against ExxonMobil, Koch Industries and the American Petroleum Institute alleging that the companies committed consumer fraud, employed deceptive trade practices and engaged in false advertising regarding their fossil fuel products’ contributions to climate change. The complaint alleges that the companies “misled the public to pad their own pockets,” and seeks to ensure that “the parties who have profited from avoiding the consequences and costs of dealing with global warming and its physical, environmental, social, and economic consequences, bear the costs of those impacts, rather than Minnesota taxpayers, residents, or broader segments of the public.”

The defendants removed the case to federal district court, but in March 2021, the federal district court remanded the case back to state court. The defendants appealed to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, but in March 2023, the circuit court upheld the decision to let the lawsuit proceed in state court, where it was originally filed.

The defendants then petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the 8th Circuit decision. In January 2024, the Supreme Court denied the petition for review with no comment. AG Ellison made the following statement: “I appreciate the Court’s consideration and decision. It aligns with 25 federal court decisions across the country, all of which have found that cases like ours rest on these defendants’ failures to warn and their campaigns of deception around their products’ contributions to the climate crisis. The Court’s decision confirms these cases are properly filed in state courts. Taken together, the defendants’ behavior has delayed the transition to alternative energy sources and a lower carbon economy, resulting in dire impacts on Minnesota’s environment and enormous costs to Minnesotans and the world. Now, the case can move forward in state court, where it was properly filed, and we can begin to hold these companies accountable for their wrongful conduct.”