Bad news for corporate bullies: The European Union's new anti-SLAPP Directive is a major step toward ending the practice of the courts being abused to silence those who speak out on matters of public interest. The directive was adopted by the EU in March 2024 to combat abusive lawsuits known as SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation), a weapon widely used by fossil fuel companies against environmental activists, journalists, and Indigenous Peoples. A strong civil society coalition persuaded the EU to act.
Greenpeace International and the Greenpeace entities in the US are currently defending a brazen SLAPP lawsuit for nearly US$ 300 million in North Dakota filed by the three entities that are part of Energy Transfer (ET), a US-based fossil fuel company. Just months after its adoption, the new EU anti-SLAPP Directive is already factoring into GPI's fight against ET: GPI, which is based in the Netherlands, sent a Notice of Liability informing ET of its intention to bring a lawsuit against the company in a Dutch court to recover all damage and costs it has suffered as a result of the SLAPP suit, unless ET withdraws its case against Greenpeace International and accepts responsibility.It's the first time the new EU anti-SLAPP Directive has been invoked in an ongoing legal dispute. Although the deadline for the Netherlands to implement the Directive only passes in 2026, it can play a role in interpreting existing Dutch law.
More than the formal Notice of Liability, GPI's action sends a message to ET and overreaching corporate polluters that civil society will not be silenced, and is ready to push back against SLAPPs.
The backstory of Energy Transfer's baseless SLAPP lawsuit
Energy Transfer LP is a company that runs one of the largest fossil fuel pipeline networks and associated energy infrastructure in the US. Its founder and Executive Chairman is Texan billionaire Kelcy Warren, a key financial supporter of Donald Trump. ET's lawsuit against GPI and Greenpeace entities in the US is one of the most egregious SLAPP lawsuits that is currently pending worldwide.
Moreover, ET's SLAPP against Greenpeace entities is an attempt to rewrite the history of the Indigenous-led protests at Standing Rock against ET's Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). In 2016, along with more than 500 other organisations, Greenpeace International signed an open letter to banks financing DAPL expressing concerns about the construction of DAPL. As a result, ET has been suing Greenpeace International for what it claims are false and defamatory statements in the United States in consecutive court cases. From the outset, this has been an attempt by ET to bury nonprofits and activists in legal fees, make them go bankrupt, and ultimately silence dissent.
The EU pushes back against SLAPPs
The EU's adoption, in March of this year, of a Directive to combat SLAPPs, like the ET suit, gives EU-based victims of SLAPP lawsuits a mechanism to fight back. In particular, Chapter V of the Directive protects organisations based in the EU against SLAPPs from outside the EU, and entitles them to compensation. This means that ET faces a suit for compensation in the Netherlands unless it drops its claims against GPI in North Dakota and accepts responsibility.
The EU's anti-SLAPP Directive was adopted amid the fossil fuel industry's widespread misuse of legal systems to target environmental watchdogs, activists, and any critics. A report by the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE) documented 820 SLAPP suits in Europe as of August 2023, with 161 lawsuits filed in 2022, a significant increase in the 135 cases filed in 2021.
Daniel Simons is Senior Legal Counsel Strategic Defence at Greenpeace International
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