By Mike Biles and Jessica England (August 21, 2018, 1:36 PM EDT) -- On Aug. 14, 2018, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a surprisingly shareholder-friendly opinion denying a motion to dismiss filed by Exxon Mobil Corp.[1] The shareholders alleged that Exxon and its management team (including Rex Tillerson) made material false statements concerning Exxon's oil and gas reserves to maintain its stellar credit rating and secure a $12 billion debt offering on favorable terms. Specifically, the shareholder plaintiffs alleged that Exxon applied a proxy carbon cost when evaluating investment and business decisions that underestimated the actual costs of government policy changes on climate-related control. The plaintiffs also alleged that as the price of oil and gas declined in 2014, Exxon did not follow other oil and gas companies and reduce (or "de-book") its oil and gas reserves. Rather, Exxon falsely assured investors that it had superior investment processes and project management that allowed it to profitably extract its oil and gas assets....