Court upholds Attorney General Ellison’s lawsuit against ExxonMobil and others

Lawsuit first filed in 2020 to continue in state court after judge largely denies defendants’ motion to dismiss

February 18, 2025 (SAINT PAUL) — Late on Friday, February 14, a Ramsey County court ruled that Attorney General Ellison’s lawsuit against ExxonMobil, Koch industries, and the American Petroleum Institute (API) can continue in state court. The court denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss the lawsuit and upheld four of the five counts that Attorney General Ellison originally filed against the defendants in June 2020.

“These defendants prioritized their profits over the people of Minnesota, and deception was their business model. The court’s thorough analysis and well-reasoned order puts us one step closer to proving that in court,” Attorney General Ellison said.

The court rejected ExxonMobil’s and API’s arguments that the Attorney General had no jurisdiction over them or their actions. The court also rejected the arguments of all defendants that the State’s claims against them are preempted by federal law and the U.S. Constitution, finding those arguments “unpersuasive.” The court further rejected the defendants’ arguments that the State’s claims are time-barred and ruled that the State has sufficiently pled causation and its claims regarding failure to warn, common-law fraud, fraud by omission, misrepresentation, reliance, and conspiracy, as well as its statutory claims related to the Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the False Statement in Advertising Act. The court did side with the defendants in dismissing one of the five counts against the defendants, related to the Minnesota Consumer Fraud Act.

Finally, the court ruled that the Attorney General’s lawsuit is not barred under Minnesota former “anti-SLAPP” statute, which protected from civil liability speech that is directed toward procuring favorable government action, finding that the statute does not apply to enforcement actions brought by the Attorney General.

Background to Minnesota’s lawsuit against ExxonMobil

At every juncture, courts have ruled that Attorney General Ellison’s lawsuit was properly filed and pleaded.

In June 2020, Attorney General Ellison sued ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, and the American Petroleum Institute for systematically over several decades deceiving Minnesotans about the true causes and costs of climate change. Minnesota alleged multiple violations of state consumer-protection law and common law.

Shortly after the Attorney General filed the lawsuit, the defendants removed the lawsuit to federal court, where they argued it belonged. In March 2021, the federal district court remanded the lawsuit to State court, noting that “[s]tates have both the clear authority and primary competence to adjudicate alleged violations of state common law and consumer protection statutes” and writing that the defendants’ attacks on the State’s “well pleaded consumer protection action” amount to “a caricature.”

In March 2023, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the defendants’ appeal and upheld the district court’s remand of the lawsuit to state court. The 8th Circuit wrote, “Minnesota is not the first state or local government to file this type of climate change litigation. Nor is this the first time that the Energy Companies … have made these jurisdictional arguments. But our sister circuits rejected them in each case. …. Today, we join them.”

In January 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the defendants’ appeal of the 8th Circuit decision with no comment. Since then, the case has been proceeding in state court, where Attorney General Ellison filed it more than four and a half years ago.

More than 30 state, local, and tribal jurisdictions around the country have filed similar lawsuits against defendants in the fossil-fuel industry.