Details at Vox.
From the story:
Last week, a federal judge at the US District Court for the Northern District of California held a five-hour tutorial to lay the scientific foundation for two lawsuits against the five biggest oil companies in the world.
. . . the judge presiding over the suits, William Alsup, wanted to get the science straight first, and he invited the cities and the oil companies to present the history of climate change research and the best available findings in a kind of unusual hearing that he’s become known for.
. . .
Theodore Boutrous, a seasoned litigator who’s argued cases before the US Supreme Court, presented on behalf of Chevron. “Chevron accepts the consensus in the scientific communities on climate change,” he said last week. “There’s no debate about climate science.”
. . . Alsup ordered the other defendants in the suit — BP PLC, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC, all of which had representatives at the hearing — to submit briefs within two weeks detailing any points of disagreement with Chevron. “Otherwise, I’m going to assume you’re in agreement,” he said. “You can’t get away with sitting there in silence and then later say, ‘He wasn’t speaking for us.’”
In the words of Joe Biden; this is a big f’ing deal.
The story has details about possible legal strategies.