“R.I. judge orders Chevron to hand over documents in state climate change lawsuit Decision to come on oil and gas company’s push to toss 2018 complaint”, 15 April 2025

…Rhode Island’s first-in-the-nation lawsuit against fossil fuel companies rests in one state judge’s hands…

Associate Justice William E. Carnes opted not to make an immediate ruling... noting the “sheer volume of materials” in the seven-year long case. … Carnes … noted several shortcomings in the arguments Chevron’s lawyers presented, including the lack of local precedent …

Former Rhode Island Attorney … in the 2018 complaint sought damages from a host of multinational oil and gas companies, including Chevron, based on the grounds that for each, “a substantial portion of fossil fuel products are or have been extracted, refined, transported, traded, distributed, marketed, promoted, manufactured, sold, and/or consumed in Rhode Island.”

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Chevron’s attorneys are now seeking to have the entire case tossed on the grounds that the state failed to investigate or prove that any fossil fuel extraction, refinement or production occurred in Rhode Island, violating a clause of state court civil procedure known as Rule 11.

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But the state, … contended that the “and/or” in the complaint covered its bases. … 18 years of business filings with the Rhode Island Department of State and records of local TV and print advertisements prove its local activity …

While Carnes delayed a ruling on Chevron’s motion to toss the complaint under alleged procedural violations, he granted in part a request by the state to compel the oil and gas company to hand over documentation of its business activity…limited the scope of discovery to date back to the year named in the complaint — 1965 …Carnes also ruled that subsidiaries and affiliates of Chevron Corp. were not subject to the court-ordered document sharing … . And,... Chevron only has to share records of business that affected consumers…

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Chevron has 90 days to hand over the required evidence … . Another hearing on the case is scheduled for May 8, by which time Carnes said he expects to have issued an order on Chevron’s Rule 11 motion.

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