ExxonMobil v. Bonta and others

In January 2025, ExxonMobil filed a defamation, business-disparagement, and commercial-interference suit in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, naming the Intergenerational Environment Justice Fund alongside Sierra Club, San Francisco Baykeeper, Heal the Bay, Surfrider Foundation, and California Attorney General Rob Bonta as defendants, as reported by ABC News and The West Australian.

ExxonMobil alleged — this is ExxonMobil’s court allegation and media-reported claim, not an established finding — that the Intergenerational Environment Justice Fund paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to the law firm Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy in connection with the underlying California litigation. In the first Plastic Waste Makers Index, published in 2021 by Minderoo, it alleged ExxonMobil was the largest producer of the plastic polymers which are then turned into single-use plastics — a claim ExxonMobil denies, saying it does not make single-use plastics. In a statement reported by ABC News, Andrew Forrest said he was “delighted Exxon has walked themselves into the court and opened themselves up to cross-examination”.

The Intergenerational Environment Justice Fund was represented by the law firm Hecker Fink LLP. On 13 February 2026, the court dismissed ExxonMobil’s claims against the fund and the other US environmental organisations for lack of personal jurisdiction, finding their alleged conduct did not establish a sufficient connection with Texas. ExxonMobil’s claim against Attorney General Bonta was allowed to continue at that stage. The underlying California litigation over ExxonMobil’s plastics-recycling claims (see the related case below) was reported as ongoing.