California Attorney General Rob Bonta expressed approval after the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to take up an original action in Alabama v. California, a case challenging climate deception lawsuits filed by California and four other states against major oil and gas companies.
"We are pleased with the Court’s decision to deny the original action motion from Alabama and other states," said Attorney General Bonta. "California is suing oil and gas companies for engaging in a decades-long campaign to deceive Californians about the climate harms of their products in our state. We will continue to do our part to ensure that those who break our laws and harm our residents are held accountable under state law and are looking forward to continuing to litigate this case in state court."
In September 2023, Bonta announced a lawsuit against Exxon Mobil, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP, and the American Petroleum Institute (API) for allegedly deceiving Californians about climate change-related harms caused by their products. In June of last year, he amended his complaint to include a disgorgement remedy based on AB 1366 (Maienschein, 2023), which mandates that defendants relinquish profits obtained through illegal conduct.
In May of last year, Alabama and 18 other Republican-led states petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Rhode Island from pursuing these lawsuits in their state courts. The defendant states argued that their actions were within traditional state authority aimed at protecting consumers from deceptive practices.