We would have preferred a ruling that challenges to shareholder proposals must originate with an SEC no-action request, but for the time being we will be satisfied with a dismissal based on mootness. Once the proposal has been withdrawn and the shareholder has promised not to re-submit, there is nothing for the court to consider. We do note that there’s some editorializing in this purportedly objective story, with some gratuitous swipes at shareholder proposals.

A lawsuit Exxon Mobil brought to stop an investor from making climate-related proposals was dismissed, closing what some had seen as a potential legal avenue for companies to take on shareholder activism.

After investment firm Arjuna Capital promised to never again hit Exxon with a greenhouse gas-related resolution, the court couldn’t weigh in further, U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman said in a decision released after a hearing Monday in Fort Worth, Texas. Courts can’t weigh in on a legal question without a live controversy in play, Pittman said, dismissing the case as moot.

Pittman’s decision ends the lawsuit, brought by Exxon in January, without a ruling on the law on shareholder proposals, which in recent years have steadily risen in number.

Exxon Lawsuit Against Activist Shareholders Thrown Out – WSJ

https://www.wsj.com/articles/exxon-lawsuit-against-activist-shareholders-thrown-out-31c2e211