A potentially landmark trial among a slate of national climate misinformation lawsuits is inching closer to reality in a Hawaii state court, if it can overcome the last obstacles left in the energy industry’s legal arsenal.
A Hawaii judge last month tossed bids by Exxon Mobil Corp., Sunoco LP and other companies to dismiss a case brought by Honolulu, a first for nearly two dozen similar cases trying to move ahead in state and local courts. According to many of these complaints, energy supermajors have known about fossil fuels’ role in catastrophic global warming—and lied to consumers about it—for decades. ...