A U.S. District Court judge in Texas dismissed Exxon Mobil’s (XOM) defamation lawsuit against environmental groups the company had accused of trying to sabotage its recycling business, but the judge allowed a parallel case against California’s attorney general to proceed, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
Exxon (XOM) had accused the environmental groups of defamation and business disparagement after California AG Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit saying the company carried out a “decades-long campaign of deception” that played a part in the global plastic pollution crisis.
Bonta’s lawsuit took particular issue with Exxon’s (XOM) statements about “advanced recycling” and said the company should create a pollution abatement fund and refrain from “any further false or misleading statements about plastics recycling.”
Four California nonprofits filed a parallel lawsuit making the same claims.
Exxon (XOM) responded with a countersuit that claimed California officials were seeking to blame the industry for their own decades-long failure to run an effective recycling program.
The company claimed the AG and the non-profits were one-time proponents of recycling who had done an “about-face” at the behest of Australian mining magnate and Fortescue Metals (FSUMF) founder Andrew Forrest, who was a business competitor with a grudge against Exxon (XOM) and an outspoken critic of fossil fuel use.