Exxon Targets Standing in Largest-Ever Citizen Lawsuit Penalty

Exxon Mobil Corp. and environmental groups will square off once again in circuit court on Tuesday in a 13-year-old lawsuit over pollution from the energy giant’s Baytown, Texas, refinery.

In an unusual decision for en banc examination, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit will hear oral arguments in Environment Texas Citizen Lobby v. ExxonMobil Corp., a civil rights case aiming to put Exxon on the hook for $14 million, the largest-ever Clean Air Act citizen lawsuit penalty.

In its request for a rehearing, Exxon asked the court to reexamine a “sweeping liability theory” that amounts to ...