California public officials who are suing ExxonMobil for climate change are part of a conspiracy to punish the company for its views on the issue, according to a recent filing by a Texas District Court judge. The filing is the most authoritative confirmation of ExxonMobil’s claims to date and directly contradicts a federal judge’s ruling last month that there was no evidence of collusion between anti-oil and gas activists and public officials.

The judge’s stunning conclusion is that the evidence presented by ExxonMobil indeed shows the California municipalities may have “brought these lawsuits for an improper purpose.”

In January, ExxonMobil petitioned a Texas court to allow it to depose several public officials responsible for the handful of climate liability lawsuits filed in California against ExxonMobil and several other oil and gas companies. ExxonMobil found a discrepancy between the municipalities’ lawsuits against the company and their bond prospectuses, suggesting that the cities and counties were either exaggerating the risks of climate change in their lawsuits or downplaying the risks to their investors. The company also asked to depose Matt Pawa, a climate activist and trial lawyer who has doggedly pursued ExxonMobil for more than a decade. Pawa is representing San Francisco and Oakland in their lawsuits.

Read the full blog post on EIDClimate.org.