Landmark Exxon Climate Change Case Heads to Trial

October 21, 2019

Landmark Exxon Climate Change Case Heads to Trial

Exxon Mobil will head to trial in Manhattan this week to defend against the New York attorney general’s claims that it deceived investors about the risks climate change poses to its business.

Speaking to Law360, partner Sean Baldwin explained that the three-week bench trial will be the first in New York state court to squarely address U.S. fossil fuel companies' understanding of climate change and the risks it presents to their businesses. “There's not going to be proof of the actual effect of climate change on all those issues, but on [Exxon's] understanding of the effect of it," he said. "That could even be more compelling, in a way, than what a lot of other climate change-related lawsuits have tried to do.”

While the burden of proof for the New York AG is lower than what the SEC or a private shareholder would have to prove, the AG’s office must still show that Exxon’s allegedly false statements materially impacted investors’ decisions.

Read the full interview in Law360.

More About Baldwin’s Practice

Sean Baldwin is an accomplished trial lawyer with extensive expertise trying cases in New York courts, the Delaware Court of Chancery, and commercial arbitrations. He has litigated matters involving complex financial products, securities, insurance and antitrust on behalf of Fortune 500 companies, monoline insurers, hedge funds and investment companies, among many others.

Sean is recognized as a “Trailblazer in Plaintiff Litigation” by The National Law Journal, and a “Leading Lawyer in Plaintiff Securities Litigation” by The Legal 500.

Learn more about his work and experience here.