1st Amendment Case Leads to $660 Million Judgment Against Greenpeace for Pipeline Protest

A North Dakota jury has ordered Greenpeace to pay $660 million to a Texas-based oil company. The case was about the role Greenpeace played in protests against a pipeline project in 2016. It raises serious questions about the right to protest in the US. The ruling could cause the environmental group to go bankrupt.   

Greenpeace is accused of leading a scheme to stop the building of a pipeline near a Sioux reservation. Energy Transfer brought the suit. The company claims Greenpeace trained and paid protesters. It also claims the group defamed the project. To defame something is to spread lies about it to hurt its reputation. Greenpeace has vowed to appeal the verdict. It said its group members were not very involved in the protests.    

“This case should alarm everyone,” Greenpeace director Sushma Raman said in a statement. She added that the case is meant to use the "courts to silence dissent.” 

A lawyer for Energy Transfer said the case shows that groups do not have the right to use the first amendment right to protest in a lawless manner. 

Energy Transfer said it suffered $300 million in losses from the protests. It first filed suit in federal court. But a judge dismissed the case in 2019 in part for lack of evidence. Energy Transfer filed a separate suit in North Dakota. It is one of 17 states that have no laws against filing lawsuits as a way to silence critics. Those laws exist in 33 states and DC.

Pace University law professor Josh Galperin told NPR he does not believe Energy Transfer's main concern was the cost of the protests. Instead, he thinks their main concern is that protests can change public opinions.

The company earned $82 billion last year.     

Reflect: What challenges might groups face when protesting against large companies?

Photo of a Native American man leading a protest in North Dakota from Reuters.