Posted on 12/10/2019 8:00:45 AM PST by karpov
A New York state judge found Exxon Mobil Corp. not guilty of fraud, saying Tuesday that the New York state attorney general had failed to establish the oil giant had deceived its investors about how it accounted for the cost of future climate-change regulations.
The verdict, which capped a nearly three-week civil trial between Exxon and the New York attorney general’s office, is a victory for the company, which had spent several years fighting the case. The company is also battling similar accusations in other state and federal courts.
In his 55-page ruling, New York State Supreme Court Justice Barry Ostrager said the attorney general’s office had failed to prove the company violated either the Martin Act, a broad antifraud statute commonly used to pursue financial crime, or other similar laws.
“The Office of the Attorney General failed to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that ExxonMobil made any material misstatements or omissions about its practices and procedures that misled any reasonable investor,” Justice Ostrager wrote.
Still, he noted the case was a securities-fraud one, and his ruling only revolved around that issue. “Nothing in this opinion is intended to absolve ExxonMobil from responsibility for contributing to climate change through the emission of greenhouse gases in the production of its fossil fuel products,” the judge wrote.
During the trial, the office of Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, accused the company of using two different accounting methods—one public, and one internal—to project its business costs in countries that were expected to implement policies to combat climate change. How the company planned for these costs mattered to investors, the office said, since it would impact the future health of the company.
The attorney general had estimated the damage to shareholders to be as much as $1.6 billion.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
NY State was simply extorting money by way of the courts in order to feed the insatiable need the Liberals have to hand out “things” to buy votes.
My guess is the believed EXXON would settle rather than fight. They were wrong and those other States bringing similar suits against EXXON will more than likely suffer the same results.
Are these AGs retarded or what?
How can a company reliably account for the cost of future climate-change regulations when the regulations may change radically in the out years?
Progressives (democrats) want state control of FedEx, Exxon, Home Depot, Apple, and other icons of industry, services, and finance. These shots are testing the mettle.
Letitia James has got the NRA in her sights now.
God help them.
Exactly. More shameless rats perverting our laws to their ends. Alinsky was their messiah.
Yes, and Soros is doing all he can to stack the deck by funding retards for AG offices.
Think about the hit piece in the NYT about Federal Express. No journalism at all. Just attacks with loose content fed to the Times by someone in the Administrative branch of government. You know, the “Interagency” branch. Fred Smith bitch slapped them fast. But facts don’t matter.
I don’t think they cared if Exxon settled. These lawsuits are nothing more than a job program for third-rate lawyers who would be unemployable in any walk of life where honesty and productivity actually matter.
You are being too kind, LOL.
They want control in order to bleed of money to support their agenda.
They’re spending our money, not their’s....
Soros is picking terrible Puppets ,LOL
Of course they cared! Perhaps they didn’t care if EXXON settled but they certainly cared about losing the case and getting nothing.
Obama did this same thing when he was in office. Constantly bringing suits against big business as a way to extract revenue for his giveaway programs.
“Nothing in this opinion is intended to absolve ExxonMobil from responsibility for contributing to climate change”
Can’t you just go to a climate priest and confess your climate sins to receive absolution?
Oh, you probably need to buy carbon indulgences too, don’t you?
Those lawyers who worked on the case for NY got paid regardless of whether they won or lost. And since they work for the taxpayers of NY, their reputation is already in the toilet.
Exxon has gone woke. They thought that if they fed the crocodile, it would leave them alone. Suckers.
So, you are sayin’ that they are NOT retarded? ;-)
Are there Gorebal Warning candles to light?
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