Michael Hiltzik: Oil industry subpoenas aim to harass and intimidate, consumer group says
Litigation is nobody's idea of fun (except, perhaps, lawyers), and that's certainly true for anyone dragged into a lawsuit without being either a plaintiff or defendant.
That's the situation facing Consumer Watchdog, the Santa Monica-based consumer group, which has spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of billable hours fending off a shower of subpoenas issued by big oil companies in connection with lawsuits to which the group isn't a party.
Chevron and Exxon have served seven nonparty subpoenas on Consumer Watchdog since 2009, the group says. Over the last year or two, those companies and others in the oil industry have gotten "more and more aggressive," says Jerry Flanagan, Consumer Watchdog's chief counsel.
In July, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, and Phillips 66 demanded the materials and names of sources the group used to produce a series of critical reports about the industry published on its website or presented to state agencies. The material included "all COMMUNICATIONS with ANY governmental agency," including the state energy commission and attorney general's office, related to the industry. (Emphasis in the original.)
