New York's highest court declined Tuesday to review a lower court's denial of PriceWaterhouseCooper's accountant-client privilege claims to quash document production requests from Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office.

The refusal by the state Court of Appeals to take up the international accounting firm's argument is being heralded by Schneiderman as a victory in his office's ongoing investigation into ExxonMobil.

Schneiderman is investigating whether the energy company committed securities violations by withholding internal information about the impact of climate change on its business. As ExxonMobil's independent auditor, PwC was subpoenaed by Schneiderman for documents relevant to the investigation.