Minnesota’s legal effort to hold the oil and gas industry and its allies responsible for the effects of climate change has gotten a boost from a state court.
Three judges of the Minnesota Court of Appeals on Monday upheld a decision by a state judge that allowed Attorney General Keith Ellison’s lawsuit against Exxon Mobil, Koch Industries and the American Petroleum Institute to proceed in state court.
The ruling comes as the oil industry has accelerated efforts to quash similar lawsuits across the country.
Judge Michelle Larkin, who wrote the decision for the Minnesota Court of Appeals, said the panel was skeptical of the arguments presented by industry attorneys. API and Exxon had argued that the lower court wrongly concluded they could be sued in the state because they were registered under the Minnesota Foreign Corporation Act, which industry lawyers argued was discriminatory to out-of-state businesses.
