California will attempt to use consumer protection laws to seize some of the world’s biggest oil companies’ profits as part of a lawsuit accusing them of deceiving the public for decades over their role in climate change.
State attorney-general Rob Bonta invoked a new state law on Monday that allows claimants to target company profits that can be identified from the violation of consumer protection and advertising laws.
In an updated filing, it lists recent examples of alleged “false advertising and misleading environmental marketing by some of the defendants” and seeks profits they have generated to be deposited into a victims’ restitution fund.