AMSTERDAM, May 28 (Reuters) - A group of around 40 large

European and American institutional investors on Tuesday urged

companies to refrain from taking shareholders to court over

disagreements relating to their proposals.

The group, which represents $4.4 trillion in assets under

management, highlighted the lawsuit filed by Exxon Mobil ( XOM )

against two activist groups, in which the oil company seeks to

bar their climate resolution.

They said long-term investors would suffer if companies

increasingly seek the judgment of a court for settling

disagreements on shareholder proposals.

"We are concerned that these actions will deter the filing

of proposals concerning the sustainability issues that are

material to the performance of our equity and fixed income

portfolios", the investors said.

"We want to protect the right of shareholders to use their

vote to decide for themselves when a proposal,

sustainability-related or otherwise, is in their best interests

and that of their stakeholders."

Among the group are pension investor APG, pension fund PGGM

and insurer NN Group from the Netherlands, Nordic banks

Nordea and Swedbank, and a range of other

investors from across Europe and the U.S.

The group backed a similar call to companies made by the

U.S. Council of Institutional Investors in February to let the

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) be the arbiter in case

of disagreements over shareholder resolutions.