{"id":3870,"date":"2017-06-07T20:13:47","date_gmt":"2017-06-07T20:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/environment.law.harvard.edu\/?p=3870"},"modified":"2019-04-16T20:04:59","modified_gmt":"2019-04-16T20:04:59","slug":"clinic-files-amicus-brief-behalf-former-ags-exxon-mobil-challenge-investigation-current-ag-maura-healey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/environment\/2017\/06\/07\/clinic-files-amicus-brief-behalf-former-ags-exxon-mobil-challenge-investigation-current-ag-maura-healey\/","title":{"rendered":"Clinic Files Amicus Brief on Behalf of Former AGs in the Exxon Mobil Challenge to an Investigation by Current AG Maura Healey"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On June 7, 2017, the Clinic filed an <a href=\"http:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/environment\/files\/2017\/07\/AG-Amicus-Brief-06.07.17.pdf\">amicus brief<\/a> on behalf of five former Massachusetts attorneys general in defense of a critical investigative tool known as a civil investigative demand (\u201cCID\u201d). \u00a0The case involves a claim by Exxon Mobil that the current AG, Maura Healey, should not be allowed to use a CID to compel Exxon to release information regarding its historic climate change-related disclosures.\u00a0 In April 2016, Healey sent a CID\u2014a type of civil subpoena\u2014to Exxon under chapter 93A, the Massachusetts consumer- and investor-protection law.\u00a0 The CID stated that AG Healey was investigating whether Exxon had made \u201cmisleading statements to investors and consumers and\/or failed to disclose information to investors and consumers with respect to its knowledge of climate change, the role of its fossil-fuel products in causing climate change, and the impacts of climate change on the valuation of Exxon\u2019s fossil fuel reserves and other assets.\u201d\u00a0 Exxon challenged the CID in Massachusetts Superior Court.\u00a0 In January 2017, a judge in that court ordered Exxon to comply with the CID; Exxon appealed this decision to the Massachusetts Court of Appeals. The Clinic\u2019s brief, filed on behalf of five previous Massachusetts attorneys general\u2014Francis Bellotti, James Shannon, Scott Harshbarger, Thomas Reilly, and Martha Coakley &#8212; explains the history and practice of chapter 93A and of the attorney general\u2019s use of CIDs.\u00a0 It argues that CIDs are a critical investigative tool that the attorney general regularly uses to protect Massachusetts consumers and investors from fraud and other unfair and deceptive acts and practices and that Exxon\u2019s arguments, if accepted by the court, would undermine the ability of the attorney general to perform this important function.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On June 7, 2017, the Clinic filed an amicus brief on behalf of five former Massachusetts attorneys general in defense&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clinic-publications","category-news","post-archive"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/environment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/environment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/environment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/environment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/201"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/environment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/environment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3870\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/environment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/environment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/environment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}