A Swiss-based insurance giant is asking a court to reject a lawsuit over its decision to bar a climate-related proposal from its 2026 shareholder meeting, saying the company acted within its rights.
The brief follows a complaint against Chubb from the shareholder group As You Sow, which earlier this month challenged the company’s decision to exclude the advocacy group’s climate proposal from shareholders who will be voting by proxy.
But Chubb in a brief filed Thursday with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said the Securities and Exchange Commission allows companies to exclude shareholder proposals on numerous grounds, including that a proposal “deals with a matter relating to the company’s ordinary business operations.”
As You Sow’s proposal sought to ask shareholders to vote on whether Chubb should commission a third-party report to determine whether pursuing claims against parties responsible for climate change — such as oil and gas producers — could reduce losses and benefit shareholders. The group asked for a preliminary injunction to force Chubb to include the proposal in its proxy material.
