Greenpeace Seeks New Trial in North Dakota

(Photo by Kyle Martin/For the North Dakota Monitor)

(North Dakota Monitor) – Greenpeace has asked for a second trial after a judge entered a $345 million judgment against the organization in a landmark case brought by the developer of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The case “threatens to result in one of the largest miscarriages of justice in North Dakota’s history,” attorneys for the environmental group wrote in a brief filed last week.

After a three-week trial roughly a year ago, a Morton County jury directed Greenpeace to pay Energy Transfer about $667 million, finding the environmental group at fault for inciting illegal acts against the company during anti-pipeline protests in North Dakota in 2016 and 2017 and for publishing false statements that harmed Energy Transfer’s reputation.

Greenpeace denies Energy Transfer’s claims and maintains that it brought the lawsuit to hurt the environmental movement.