The Texas Supreme Court has agreed to grant a rehearing in the nearly 15-year legal battle over accusations that Exxon Mobil Corp. sabotaged abandoned wells.
A smaller oil company that tried to enter the South Texas wells and the landowners had accused the world's largest publicly traded oil company of stuffing old wells with junk, sludge and tools so other companies couldn't drill there. Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil has denied wrongdoing.
The plaintiffs won at trial in 1999, but the Texas Supreme Court later reversed the finding. That ruling sparked a campaign led by the Texas land commissioner and state comptroller to reopen the case.
Texas Supreme Court spokesman Osler McCarthy says no date has been set for a hearing.
ADVERTISEMENT