Pipeline Company’s Lawsuit Against Greenpeace Goes to a North Dakota Jury

Greenpeace utilized malicious and deceptive tactics to disrupt the arguable Dakota Access Pipeline and support it from going forward, an lawyer for the institution down the task said Monday.

But attorneys for the biology advocacy radical said during their closing arguments that Greenpeace had small engagement with the 2016-17 protests that are cardinal to the case.

A North Dakota assemblage began deliberating Monday aft a weekslong proceedings implicit Dallas-based Energy Transfer’s statement that Greenpeace defamed the institution and disrupted the project.

What is the lawsuit about?

The vigor institution and its subsidiary Dakota Access accused Greenpeace International, Greenpeace USA and backing limb Greenpeace Fund Inc. of defamation, civilian conspiracy, trespass, nuisance and different acts, and is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars successful damages.

Nine jurors and 2 alternates heard the lawsuit aft it went to trial successful precocious February. Their verdict volition see what damages, if any, to award.

Trey Cox, an lawyer for the pipeline company, highlighted damages per assertion totaling astir $350 million.

The suit is linked to the protests against the lipid pipeline and its arguable Missouri River crossing upstream of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s reservation. The people has agelong opposed the pipeline arsenic a hazard to its h2o supply. The pipeline has been transporting lipid since mid-2017.

What did the institution say?

Cox said Greenpeace exploited a small, disorganized, section contented to beforehand its agenda, calling Greenpeace “master manipulators” and “deceptive to the core.”

Greenpeace paid nonrecreational protesters, organized oregon led protester trainings, shared quality of the pipeline way with protesters and sent lockboxes for demonstrators to connect themselves to equipment, Cox said.

Among a fig of alleged defamatory statements were that the institution deliberately desecrated burial grounds during construction, which Cox said was done to harm Energy Transfer’s estimation successful the planetary concern community. The institution made 140 flimsy adjustments to its way to debar disturbing ineffable oregon taste sites, helium said.

Greenpeace’s “lies impacted lenders,” Cox said. Energy Transfer suffered $96 cardinal successful mislaid financing and $7 cardinal successful nationalist relations costs, helium said.

The pipeline was delayed by 5 months, and the institution mislaid $80 cardinal due to the fact that it couldn’t crook connected the spigot connected Jan. 1, 2017, erstwhile lipid was to start flowing, Cox said.

He asked the assemblage to find the Greenpeace entities liable.

“It needs to beryllium done for Morton County. It needs to beryllium done for Morton County’s instrumentality enforcement and the adjacent assemblage wherever Greenpeace exploits an accidental to propulsion its docket astatine immoderate cost,” Cox told the jury, referring to the region wherever the protests were centered.

How did Greenpeace respond?

Attorneys for Greenpeace said Energy Transfer didn’t beryllium its lawsuit oregon conscionable its ineligible load for defamation oregon damages, that Greenpeace employees had small oregon nary beingness oregon engagement successful the protests, and that Greenpeace had thing to bash with the company’s delays successful operation oregon refinancing.

A missive signed by leaders of Greenpeace International and Greenpeace USA and sent to banks progressive successful the project’s operation indebtedness contained the alleged defamatory connection astir desecrating burial grounds, which Cox equated to digging up dormant bodies.

Greenpeace International lawyer Courtney DeThomas said the different broadside hasn’t shown however the 1 enactment of signing a missive with 500 different organizations damaged them, and that the missive would person been sent to the banks with oregon without Greenpeace’s sanction connected it. Thousands of protesters were already astatine Standing Rock by the clip the missive was signed, she said.

Greenpeace USA lawyer Everett Jack Jr. disputed the company’s claims arsenic including costs from months earlier and years aft the protests, with nary witnesses to accidental that the Greenpeace entities were the cause.

Jack besides said nary instrumentality enforcement officers oregon immoderate of Energy Transfer’s information unit testified that Greenpeace was the origin of immoderate unit oregon spot destruction, oregon was a leader, organizer oregon instigator successful the protests. He said law enforcement “did a phenomenal occupation of watching the protests.”

Greenpeace representatives person criticized the suit arsenic an illustration of corporations abusing the ineligible strategy to spell aft critics and called it a captious trial of escaped code and protestation rights. An Energy Transfer spokesperson said the lawsuit is astir Greenpeace not pursuing the law, not escaped speech.

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Topics Lawsuits