MANDAN:Closing arguments are scheduled to begin on Monday in a pipeline company\u2019s lawsuit against Greenpeace, a case the environmental advocacy group said could have consequences for free speech and protest rights and threaten the organization\u2019s future.
\nThe jury will deliberate after the closing arguments and jury instructions. Nine jurors and two alternates have heard the case.
\nNorth Dakota District Court Judge James Gion told the jury last month when the trial began, \u201cYou are the judges of all questions of fact in this case,\u201d and to \u201cbase your verdict on the evidence.\u201d
\nDallas-based Energy Transfer and its subsidiary Dakota Access alleged defamation, trespass, nuisance and other offenses by Netherlands-based Greenpeace International, its American branch Greenpeace USA, and funding arm Greenpeace Fund Inc. The pipeline company is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.
\nThe lawsuit stems from protests in 2016 and 2017 of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline and its Missouri River crossing upstream of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe\u2019s reservation. The tribe for years has opposed the pipeline as a risk to its water supply. The pipeline has transported oil since mid-2017.
\nTrey Cox, an attorney for the pipeline company, previously said Greenpeace \u201cplanned, organized and funded a game plan to stop construction\u201d of the pipeline, \u201cwhatever the cost.\u201d
\nCox also alleged Greenpeace paid outsiders to come into the area to protest, sent blockade supplies, organized or led protester trainings, passed \u201ccritical intel\u201d to the protesters and told untrue statements to stop the line from being built.
\nHe said a letter signed by leaders of Greenpeace International and Greenpeace USA and sent to Energy Transfer\u2019s banks contained an allegedly defamatory statement that the company desecrated burial grounds and culturally important sites during construction.
\nGreenpeace\u2019s \u201cdeceptive narrative scared off lenders\u201d and the company lost half its banks, Cox said.
\nAttorneys for the Greenpeace entities denied the allegations, saying there is no evidence, they had little or no involvement with the protests and the letter was signed by hundreds of organizations from dozens of countries, with no financial institution to testify the organization received, read or was influenced by the letter.
\nGreenpeace representatives have said the lawsuit is an example of corporations abusing the legal system to go after critics and is a critical test of free speech and protest rights. An Energy Transfer spokesperson said the case is about Greenpeace not following the law, not free speech.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MANDAN:Closing arguments are scheduled to begin on Monday in a pipeline company\u2019s lawsuit against Greenpeace, a case the environmental advocacy group said could have consequences for free speech and protest rights and threaten the organization\u2019s future. The jury will deliberate after the closing arguments and jury instructions. Nine jurors and two alternates have heard the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467513,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-467503","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n