Energy Policy Advocates and Rob Schilling previously filed a motion to intervene in the New York Attorney General’s case against ExxonMobil, which ended in a “debacle” for the activist NY AG (for three of them, in fact…). Their purpose is the limited one of unsealing certain records showing OAG’s relationship with the plaintiff’s tort lawyer Matt Pawa, who a major political and green-group donor suggests brought these investigations to the New York AG.
Open records productions exhaustively detailed on CLW prove he brought the pitch to go after his civil litigation targets to other AGs.
Alternately, under New York law, the Court must explain its reasoning for keeping sealed each record it says should remain free from public inspection.
To keep these records showing the relationship between a public agency and a tort lawyer, urging law enforcement go after the latter’s targets, from public examination Mr. Pawa himself sought to intervene, as a “friend of the court”.
EPA/Schilling’s response clarifies some apparent confusion about what a Friend of the Court is, and isn’t, while noting Mr. Pawa’s odd focus on ad hominem as a reason to allow him to try and keep communications with NY OAG from the public. While EPA/Schilling acknowledge the oddity of that move, to the extent the Court is willing to entertain motives, the group lays out an interesting history of Mr. Pawa’s advocacy to AGs, underwritten by charitable donors.
Eagle-eyed CLW readers will spot the news that this exhibit breaks.