A Texas federal court has given ExxonMobil permission to move forward with defamation claims against California Attorney General Rob Bonta regarding his public statements about the oil company’s plastic recycling programs.
U.S. District Judge Michael J. Truncale from the Eastern District of Texas determined in his recent decision that Bonta loses his official immunity protection for certain public statements, particularly those made in a fundraising email distributed to Texas voters.
The legal battle stems from Bonta’s September 2024 lawsuit against ExxonMobil, where he accused the petroleum company of misleading consumers by promoting plastic products as recyclable when effective recycling systems don’t exist. According to Bonta’s claims, fewer than 5% of plastic materials actually get transformed into new plastic items, and the recycling technologies that Exxon promotes are ineffective. ExxonMobil countered by blaming California’s recycling infrastructure for the problems.
In response, ExxonMobil filed its own lawsuit in Texas against Bonta personally and several environmental organizations, claiming defamation and alleging that the public statements damaged existing and potential business relationships. The company chose to file in Texas, close to its headquarters location.
While Judge Truncale threw out the claims against the environmental groups, he permitted the case against Bonta to continue.
The court focused particularly on a campaign fundraising email Bonta distributed to Texas residents, which stated that only 5% of plastic gets recycled while the remainder pollutes the environment and enters human bodies, adding: “Exxon Mobil knew, and Exxon Mobil lied.” The Democratic attorney general maintained he was simply informing subscribers about his office’s work.
However, Judge Truncale ruled that the presence of a campaign donation link transformed the message into political activity rather than official government business, stripping away Bonta’s immunity protections.
“Here, the contribution request betrays the email’s true nature: a campaign promotion. Campaigning is not within Bonta’s scope of employment,” the judge wrote.
Bonta’s office has not yet provided a response to requests for comment.
ExxonMobil released a statement declaring that the “campaign of lies designed to derail our advanced recycling business must stop.”
