I’ve never had a headline like this, but Greenpeace deserves it for their mind-bending defense in a defamation lawsuit: basically their defense is “we publish hyperbole, therefore it isn’t actionable because it isn’t factual”. GMAFB!
Dr. Patrick Moore, one of the co-founders of Greenpeace, whom they have tried to erase from their website, resigned from the organization because:
The organization I co-founded has become a monster. When I was a member of its central committee in the early days, we campaigned – usually with success – on genuine environmental issues such as atmospheric nuclear tests, whaling and seal-clubbing.
When Greenpeace turned anti-science by campaigning against chlorine (imagine the sheer stupidity of campaigning against one of the elements in the periodic table), I decided that it had lost its purpose and that, having achieved its original objectives, had turned to extremism to try to justify its continued existence.
Now Greenpeace has knowingly made itself the sworn enemy of all life on Earth. By opposing capitalism, it stands against the one system of economics that has been most successful in regulating and restoring the environment.
Get a load of this:
Greenpeace Claims Immunity from Lawsuits Because Its Claims Are ‘Hyperbole’
2:02pm EST March 3, 2017
by Katie Brown, PhD
There’s been an interesting twist of events involving Greenpeace, one of the major groups pushing the failing #ExxonKnew campaign: They’ve been sued by Resolute, a Canadian forest-products company, for defamation and false claims about the company’s operations.
But when Greenpeace had to answer for its actions in court, the group wasn’t so sure it could defend its claims. In fact, they admitted those claims had no merit. As Resolute’s President and CEO Richard Garneau explained in a recent op-ed,
A funny thing happened when Greenpeace and allies were forced to account for their claims in court. They started changing their tune. Their condemnations of our forestry practices “do not hew to strict literalism or scientific precision,” as they concede in their latest legal filings. Their accusations against Resolute were instead “hyperbole,” “heated rhetoric,” and “non-verifiable statements of subjective opinion” that should not be taken “literally” or expose them to any legal liability. These are sober admissions after years of irresponsible attacks. (emphasis added)
No “forest loss” was caused by Resolute, the groups concede — now that they are being held accountable.
As the Financial Post also reported,
But now Greenpeace says it never intended people to take its words about Resolute’s logging practices as literal truth.
“The publications’ use of the word “Forest Destroyer,” for example, is obvious rhetoric,” Greenpeace writes in its motion to dismiss the Resolute lawsuit. “Resolute did not literally destroy an entire forest. It is of course arguable that Resolute destroyed portions of the Canadian Boreal Forest without abiding by policies and practices established by the Canadian government and the Forest Stewardship Council, but that is the point: The “Forest Destroyer” statement cannot be proven true or false, it is merely an opinion.”
In other words, Greenpeace is admitting that it relies on “non-verifiable statements of subjective opinion,” and because its claims are not meant to be factual, the group believes it cannot be held legally responsible for what it says.
Notably, Greenpeace has been actively pushing for legal action against ExxonMobil, alleging the company “knew” about climate change in the 1970s and 1980s before the world’s top scientists had come to any solid conclusions. When the Rockefeller-funded InsideClimate News and Columbia School of Journalism produced their #ExxonKnew hit pieces, Greenpeace immediately called for the Department of Justice to investigate ExxonMobil, saying,
“The Department of Justice should open a federal investigation immediately and hold the company legally accountable for misleading the public, lawmakers, and investors about the impacts of climate change. A DOJ investigation should be broad and look into the role of other fossil fuel companies, trade associations, and think tanks in sowing doubt about the risks of climate change.” (emphasis added)
Greenpeace claims it cannot be sued because its misleading claims were not meant to be factual, but it then claims the U.S. Department of Justice needs to investigate an energy company for what it calls “misleading the public.”
It will come as no surprise that Greenpeace is also funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Rockefeller Family Fund, the same groups that have been bankrolling #ExxonKnew every step of the way.
Representatives from Greenpeace were in attendance at a secret strategy meeting in January 2016, held at the Rockefeller Family Fund offices in New York, where the activists met to brainstorm how “to establish in public’s mind that Exxon is a corrupt institution,” “delegitimize them as a political actor,” and “force officials to disassociate themselves from Exxon.”
A former member of Greenpeace’s Board of Directors, Kenny Bruno, last year tweeted,
“I don’t want to abolish Exxon. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.”
If it wasn’t already abundantly obvious, these latest developments just go to show how much credulity Greenpeace has.
I hope Resolute takes these eco-clowns for every penny they have and they get shut down. Like the case won against Gawker for defamation, they deserve it.
Greenpeace is an Eco-terrorist organization and should be forced to disband and compensate ALL those they have slandered or harmed financially, emotionally or professionally!
Naw, they just keep forgetting their “/SARC” tags at the end of their Hyperbole.
HMMM
Perhaps they can be held liable then
Perhaps a good $$$$$$$$$ 9 or 10 figure spanking is in order
Its all fun and games until someone loses an eye. Or brings a lawyer…
BTW, ““hyperbole,” “heated rhetoric,” and “non-verifiable statements of subjective opinion” that should not be taken “literally” sounds like Mark Steyn’s entire defence.
Steyn is a satarist. That’s how he makes his living.
Greenpeace was talen over by leftist with The idea of “domination of Nature”. With other words Nature has become a surrogate for the working class that did not rise up and make revolution?
That, Santa Baby, is very perceptive. It has been noted that at the time (late 60s) the Left intellectuals finally espoused the Working Class as fellow revolutionaries, the Working Class basically ceased to exist.
Greenpeace is relied on by the BBC for a lot of its fake environmental news stories. If Greenpeace disbanded, the BBC would only have FoE and WWF (and a hundred or so other econut organisations) for its fake environmental news stories.
On the Bishop Hill site a petition to rescind the BBC’s charter is gathering momuntum. At 10,000 signatures it has to go before Parliament. Some say that BBC stands for Bolshevik Brainwashing Corporation!
Get rid of the whole TV tax nonsense. The government should never be in the business of funding or regulation “news”.
President Trump should declare it a criminal organization, which it has become.
Patrick Moore: Worldwide Mass Extinction in 2 million Years Because of Low CO2 :
As recently as 18,000 years ago, at the height of the most recent major glaciation, CO2 dipped to its lowest level in recorded history at 180 ppm, low enough to stunt plant growth. This is only 30 ppm above a level that would result in the death of plants due to CO2 starvation. It is calculated that if the decline in CO2 levels were to continue at the same rate as it has over the past 140 million years, life on Earth would begin to die as soon as two million years [or much sooner actually] from now and would slowly perish almost entirely as carbon continued to be lost to the deep ocean sediments.
~
The point: at each period after an inter-glacial the CO2 level is dropping lower and lower, and soon it will drop to levels where nearly everything will die.
Patrick Moore explain the coming apocalypse caused by low CO2 in the video below:
Human CO2 Emissions are Wholly Beneficial – Dr. Moore:
CO2 never drops much below 200ppm because as plants start to die, CO2 is released. This is the first time in earth’s history it has ever reached this “floor”. During the only other CO2 crash at the end of the Carboniferous, it got down to 400ppm. The average CO2 level in the later Phanerozoic is about 2,000ppm. It provided lots of munchies for the dinosaurs.
Yes. The issue is sea-shelled creatures extracting carbon from the atmosphere. In the past volcanic sources have been adequate to replenish that, but no longer (the earth is cooling and hence less volcanic activity).
So it got down to 180ppm last time, and the trend shows it going to ~ 160ppm the next time, and then below that. This is bordering on complete end of the world apocalypse. Literally, at least as far as most all plant and thus animal life.
Evidence of plants being stressed out from CO2 starvation is found in juniper fossils recovered from the La Brea Tar Pits during the last glaciation: http://www.pnas.org/content/102/3/690.full?sid=5e3bdf35-c2a6-4fe7-b336-eea3917571f2
exactly….CO2 was not being replaced at the rate it was being depleted
ES,
Please examine time scales and global cooling and try to be more accurate. Nobody serious is linking events like volcanic activity to short-term cooling that is, say, shorter than a few thousand years. Required temperature change of globe remains unkown.
Geoff, I think you might have misunderstood Eric’s point. I believe he was talking about how the Earths CORE is slowly cooling, and thus there is less energy to drive Volcanism which releases CO2.
Personally I’ve wondered before if this might be one more reason why intelligent life seems to be so rare in the universe. If we lived on a less tectonicly active world CO2 would have fallen permanently below extinction level long before humans came to be. And that’s just one of thousands of knifeblade balancing acts and longshots that was needed to come out just right to get to were we are today.
It’s one reason I choose to believe in a creator. Because the alternative is that we just happen to be one planet in hundreds of trillions that happened to keep rolling critical successes for a billion years. And you know our luck is going to break eventually. ○¿○
I do not see serious climate-related research linking volcanic activity with cooling of the core of the earth. No doubt there is some early work in progress, but matters such as volcano or earthquake prediction are not often seen in general climate reading. The fundamentals are far from settled.
Geoff
Patrick Moore calling anyone “full of sh*t” is textbook irony.
There goes the leftist, insulting those who dare to disagree with the narrative.
When you can’t refute, insult. It’s the leftwing way.
Perhaps humans purpose on earth is solely to liberate trapped hydrocarbons and replenish the atmosphere for the higher life forms such as trees.
Damn pity the law does not allow action against Greenpeace’s funders. The Rockefeller Family Funds have serious money, and use in seriously malevolent ways. Or can it? RICO the green blob?
A Rico case has been filed against funders: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-first-climate-change-rico-lawsuit-is-filed-by-defyccccom-editor-300334237.html
The RICO case “… alleges that the defendants utilized a large network of corrupt officials, pseudo-scientists, media front groups, and “marketing accessories,” all operating under complete control or undue influence of the defendants, to spread misinformation about the climate.” I could see a Lubbock, TX jury agreeing with that!
If you recall Rockefeller tried to create a false narrative that electric lighting and wiring was going to kill hundreds in the late 1800’s. All so he could keep his precious oil/kerosene business running.
It is in their DNA!
TH, the US RICO case appears extendable to ‘coconspirators which would include complicit funders. Issue of ‘conspiracy knowledge’ requiring probably email discovery.
The law does allow it. The Klu Klux Klan was financially broken when the suits went against those who funded their activities. They took farms, land, and businesses. I watched it here in South Carolina. That is how they broke its back.
Charging every office holder for sedition would be more gratifying!
Sedition? Good grief.
Yes, sedition as commonly described in Wikipedia: “Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent (or resistance) to lawful authority. Sedition may include any commotion, though not aimed at direct and open violence against the laws. Seditious words in writing are seditious libel.”
LOL
Yes, Sedition, Chris. Let me guess: you were brainwashed in some Liberal Monolith of “Higher Education” by Marxist/Socialist anti-Capitalist Progressives commonly known as Democrats–am I right?
The worm has turned and traditional America is back: You can see the Left’s completely demonic campaign against Sessions as an indication of their fear of being discovered as criminals and their hatred for the rule of law.
From your short but revealing comment, you’re probably anti-Sessions, too!
One would hope that articles such as this will destroy any credibility Greenpeace still has.
It would, if these articles were ever published by the MSM.
MarkW….the UK Guardian has been running with the ‘Exxon Knew’ story for a while. Obviously they’re viciously activist with it. If Greenpeace cop for a fall they’ll have to publish. Having said that I haven’t seen the latest Greenpeace admission in the Guardian yet. There’s a surprise.
And that, Mark, is the biggest problem of all.
The Supreme Court has carved out a “sarcasm” exception to libel. This is for speech that is obviously not intended to be taken as truth.
For GreenPeace to try and use the hyperbole defense means that they never intended for their statements to be taken seriously by anyone.
Mark, you forgot the same thing I did in my comment–this is a Canadian case, without the US rules on libel or US law in general. As far as I know, Canadian law on libel is closer to British rules.
From my limited understanding of British libel rules, winning a settlement should be even easier than it is in the US.
I think they are being sued in the US District Court for the Southern District of Georgia.
This is not a Canadian case. It’s a RICO case filed in the Southern District of Georgia.
“The complaint included federal racketeering claims and racketeering, trademark, defamation and tortious interference claims under Georgia law.” Interesting reading: Resolute v Greenpeace.
Sorry, I’m wrong. There are two cases. Libel in Canada and RICO in the US.
Thank you. I hadn’t seen any coverage of either case in the general media or online, and all I was going on was the post.
In Canada the MSM always calls on some Greenpeace nimrod for an environmental impact statement instead of someone who might have some actual knowledge about what they’re talking about… they would never consider talking to an actual scientist.
International defamation laws do differ by country and are ever changing. Here Down Under we used to have frustrating corporate meetings about how to stop green NGOs from trashing reputations, but in the olden days precedents included a case where an actor was paid to supposedly find a rat tail in a restaurant’s meat pie.
Much clearer precedents now in Australia since a High Court judgement in 2007 IIRC.
It continues to dismay me that defamation damage cases are not prosecuted very actively by major corporations. At some stage you have to get some guts and take a stand for honesty.
Geoff
There are two cases, not one. See comment below.
The likely problem with that is their parallel use of these “sarcastic” comments to raise money. They can’t have it both ways – if they were “just kidding” about their accusations, by using the same charges to do fundraising, they are open to charges of fraud. Because of the widespread nature of their campaigning, it is a federal crime, at least here in the US. Will be interesting to see how they try to wriggle out of this one…
TP, yup. Greenpeace is hooked on the horns of a BIG dilemma.
This action against Greenpeace is happening at the state level, but the invisible hands on the tiller grip even tighter at the national level. This can be viewed as just one more reason that there is such a vociferous campaign against new US AG Jeff Sessions.
So they’re also saying that their fund raising is fraudulent ?
I missed that aspect. Their defense against libel is to plead guilty of fraud. How interesting.
… which seems to support the proposition that GreenPeace is a joke. I can accept that defense, as long as they start including clown makeup, slide whistles and other devices that give clear indications that a joke is being put forth in their utterances.
Reblogged this on Peddling and Scaling God and Darwin and commented:
I am not keen on this blog Wattsupwiththat as it is too close to GWPF and climate change denial for my liking . However I would suggest that Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth actually feed these views with their unreasonable and inaccurate claims.
Though I am well to the left of both Moore and Wattsup, this blog makes some excellent points.
I also reckon GP and FoE actually damage the environmental cause both by their stridency and dishonesty.
I hope no one raps my knuckles for re-blogging this
Pointing out that the impact of CO2 is proven to be very small is too close to “climate change denial”?
Or are you one of those people who feels that the opinions of the most extreme poster must be the official position of the blog itself?
Stay safe – your life is about to become VERY interesting. In the ancient Chinese curse sense…
You are about to encounter the complete lack of tolerance when you dispute the words of your Masters.
There is no such curse. If there were, it would be really dumb, since the cursor lives in the same times as the cursee.
Sigh. Of course not. (The actual wording is attributed to Austen Chamberlain these days – a mis-transcription of one of his father’s phrases.)
However, there is the ancient Chinese “proverb” – “寧為太平犬，莫做亂離人”.
It is always dangerous to decide to be a human in war, rather than a dog in peace. Especially when you decide to annoy the Church of Marx – which attacks the heretic, but will absolutely destroy the apostate.
Even if it wasn’t originally an ancient Chinese curse, I still like it. It just depends on your meaning of “interesting times”. I doubt anyone would argue that we are not currently living in “interesting times”. And, some consider it a curse while others consider it a blessing.
Interesting times in one region may be dull in another.
Regardless, it’s interesting how you assume that those of here are as intolerant as the average warmist.
More projection no doubt.
Eh? I was applauding the gentleman. The life of a Leftist who exhibits even the slightest grasp of reality is never easy. The other sharks are always waiting.
No, he won’t get flack here on WUWT – Anthony and the moderators are very prompt at spanking the few brats that wander in and sending them home to their mommies.
I’d be interested in a follow up, actually – but the poor man is probably too busy trying to keep his own blog from burning to the ground as the mob of his (former) friends throws the torches.
“Though I am well to the left of both Moore and Wattsup…”
Left, right, inside-out, upside-down … this site is primarily concerned with evidence and REAL science.
Sounds like you’re in the wrong place – you need some kind of political activist blog with lots of hot air to share around.
+1000
Alan Ranger
another +1,000
Exactly! I’m no right wing fanatic nor am I a socialist. Those tired old labels just betray locked in mentalities. I come here for a more objective take on a critical scientific issue for society. It is,unfortunately obvious that the field has become corrupted and the truth obscured by activists, opportunists, liars and politicians.
@4004
Well written but stupid. Defining environmental position based on political position is stupid. The ‘left’ has co-oped environmental causes without bothering to do the hard work and learn how to protect the environmental. The prefer glitter over substance.
Since I worked in nuclear power, I have a big problems with GP. I have a big problem with anyone or any group that can justify violence against me or my family. If you want to find 500 people dedicated to protecting the environment and knowledgeable about how to do it go to a nuclear power plant.
Something about wallowing with pigs, getting dirty, and besides the pigs like it.
Best not to make a habit of it 🙂
But it sure can be fun.
Have you seen the bigger piggies
In their starched white shirts?
You will find the bigger piggies
Stirring up the dirt
Always have clean shirts to play around in
It does not matter what is true, it only matters what people believe is true.”
Paul Watson (a Greenpeace founder) attributes this quote to Dr. Patrick Moore, another Greenpeace founder, in 1981. Others have attributed it to Paul Watson or to David McTaggert (yet another founder of Greenpeace). Either way it was frequently said by the leaders of the organization. It has been sort of a mantra for them. The earliest published sources for the quote are Forbes November, 1991 and the authoritative book Environmental Overkill by Dr. Dixy Lee Ray, 1993. Dr. Ray was also the 17th Governor of the state of Washington. She was a Democrat, but critical of the environmental movement.
I always wondered why she was not an icon of the women’s movement.
Interesting.
Once they lose this lawsuit, Greenpeace will be seen as a bleeding whale by the sharks.
A rich ground for the lawyers to make a buck.
I predict a lot of lawsuits against Greenpeace are about to be filed.
There certainly is a lot of material for the lawyers to work with.
GreenPeace has felt free to be lose with the facts for many years, against a lot of people.
Interesting that you used “lose” to mean “loose” when most mistakes use “loose” to mean “lose”.
You have been corrupted by the loosers.
Larry lassoed a loser and loosed him later…
If this isn’t a case for the RICO statutes … then what is ? Take-down Greenpeace and ALL of its co-conspirators !
Publish greenpp’s emails with their big donors; along with grennpp’s collusion emails with EPA, and other activist groups. Any emails between greenpp and national media would also be interesting.
I doubt greenpp keeps records regarding their actual knowledge levels in any subject.
greenpp’s lack of maturity and responsibility is certainly on stage in the courtroom. It’s a shame the MSM is ignoring the court cases.
So far, Greenpeace has gotten away with not responding to a U.S. Congressional subpoena.
Greenpeace is an international organization with plenty of clout around the world.
France and Russia do not seem to think so.
Brownpeace
… or Greenwar.
I always found funny that Greenpeace´s flagship was named “Rainbow warrior“
Fighting for peace ?
Green-pants-on-fire.
Greenpiles (of you know what)
Green piss
Coming up in 11 days.
Re: Patrick Moore’s statement
And providing families with the means to get a job, earn income, and provide a better lifestyle and living conditions. Without it, we’d all still be serfs.
That’s the world the leftists want to take us back to. With themselves as the all knowing and benevolent rulers. (At least in their minds.)
Most of us probably still are serfs….just that we have slightly different lords and masters.
It might work here due to the first Amendment. But Canada does not have that, so the burden of proof of libel is a lot easier. I hope Greenpeace gets what it deserves.
pj, the US case is civil RICO. First Amendment rights are generally not in play. To paraphrase NY AG Schneiderman concerning his Martin Act suit against Exxon. First Amendment free speech does not extend to rackateering speech. To paraphase the general legal concept as taught at Harvard Law, there is no First Amendment right to scream Fire in a crowded theater unless there really is a fire.
Thanks Ristvan. I missed that the first go round, but caught it when others pointed it out. That actually is very good since that is a lot easier to win than a defamation suit. But then most entrepreneurs (in contrast to CEOs) are not stupid and figured that out way before they filed. Greenpeace picked on the wrong company this time.
Greenpeace protest got fertilized. A Limerick.
Aroma from countryside Lancashire;
the farmer gave Greenpeace its hire.
Emma Thompson got sprayed
she got frackin’ afraid.
Her bake-off, frack free, reeked of mire.
Source, The Telegraph: An angry farmer attempted to spray Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson with manure on Wednesday after she broke a court injunction to stage a protest against fracking on his land. Ms Thompson and her sister Sophie entered a field on the Lancashire farm, where energy company Cuadrilla is planning to frack for shale gas, and baked renewable energy-themed cakes in a Greenpeace-backed protest stunt. An injunction has been in place banning protesters from the land near Preston since 2014 .The farmer, who was said to be “very upset” about being prevented from getting on with work in the field, proceeded to drive a muck-spreader around the protesters, narrowly missing the Thompson sisters and their cakes. Emma Thompson said she was staging the so-called “Frack Free Bake Off” in order to “show the government that we will not allow fracking to scar our countryside and fuel yet more climate change”. “What better way to do that, here in Britain, than hold a Bake Off?,” she asked.
With the video: https://lenbilen.com/2017/03/02/greenpeace-protest-got-fertilized-a-limerick/
It’s not a new idea. It has been used in Sweden too. We have a big problem with Rumanian and Bulgarian gypsies who come here and run up shanty towns, sometimes on private land. Now it is quite difficult to get rid of them legally. You are not allowed to do it yourself, it must be done by the proper authorities. To get them to do it you must get an eviction warrant. To get an eviction warrant you must give the names of the people you want evicted (this law was made long ago in a very different society, and meant for use against tenants who won’t pay rent). So if the squatters refuse to tell their names (which they always do) there is simply no legal way to get rid of them.
So a farmer found a way. He fertilized the field all around the gypsy camp, with pig manure. Perfectly legal and worked like a charm.
Thanks lenbilen. The video is a thriller worth watching.
“But now Greenpeace says it never intended people to take its words about Resolute’s logging practices as literal truth.”
No, that’s not going to fly. Guilty!
The words were put out as literal truth. Greenpeace didn’t give any disclaimers about their honesty or lack thereof. They were pushing a lie and pretending it was the truth.
Guilty. Pay up.
Even better, they have admitted in their court filings, that they were lying.
No defense left.
Please please please, let me get what I want this time.
Ie a Greenpeace rinsing. Christ that’d be marvellous.
Yes, a claim of lying is a very, very flimsy defense.
With all due respect to Anthony’s headline, it would have had more impact without the reference to Dr. Patrick Moore’s opinion, and lead with Greenpeace’s opinion of themselves:
“Greenpeace admits they are full of sh*t.”
As soon as I saw the words “green” and “peace” I knew they were full of sh*t.
That’s right. Real men fight for Climate Justice™.
Uh, isn’t the oil company we know as Exxon a result of
the breakup of Standard Oil, the same oil company that spawned the Rockefeller fortune?
Yes.
The Standard Oil group of companies, in which the Rockefeller family owned a one-quarter (and controlling) interest,1 was of critical assistance in helping Nazi Germany prepare for World War II. This assistance in military preparation came about because Germany’s relatively insignificant supplies of crude petroleum were quite insufficient for modern mechanized warfare; in 1934 for instance about 85 percent of German finished petroleum products were imported. The solution adopted by Nazi Germany was to manufacture synthetic gasoline from its plentiful domestic coal supplies. It was the hydrogenation process of producing synthetic gasoline and iso-octane properties in gasoline that enabled Germany to go to war in 1940 — and this hydrogenation process was developed and financed by the Standard Oil laboratories in the United States in partnership with I.G. Farben. etc.
http://reformed-theology.org/html/books/wall_street/chapter_04.htm
Yes. It was originally known as ESSO, as in S.O., as in Standard Oil. Rockefeller did have a sense of humor.
Still known as ESSO this side of the pond.
Exxon was the result of a merger of Standard Oil of New Jersey with Humble Oil and Refining Company in 1973.
I knew and was educated about Climate Change in the 50s 60s & 70s. During Primary, Secondary & Tertiary education and also in the field while studying Geology and earths six billion year history of climate change. Will Greenpeace be coming after me? 🙂
Depends. Do you have money?
There are two lawsuits. One for defamation in Canada, to which this post pertains, and a civil RICO filed in Georgia (Resolute is listed on TSX and NYSE). I didma half hour Canadiannlaw check. Standard common law defamation, Canada has a ‘clear opinion’ exception. I do not think the ‘hyperbole’ response meets it, but not a Canadian lawyer. I see no way they can escape the US civil RICO. Co comspirators are any who supported (Rockefeller?) or echoed the false allegations (Greenpeace affilites–US and Canada are legally separate entities). Greenpeace is attempting to assert antiSLAPP in the US federal case. Don’t think that works under these fact circumstances. Will research and subpost in a few minutes.
Resolute 2016 revenue ~$860 million, liquidity (cash and equivalents) ~$460 million. Plenty of firepower to bring Greenpeace to its knees. The RICO asks for actual damages determined at trial plus 3x punative. The actual damages sought in Canada are ~$C110 million. So the US demand adds up to ~$400 million.
Ok. congress has not yet passed a federal antiSLAPP. And several federal courts have ruled state AntiSLAPP laws do not apply to federal cases. This is a federal case, so Georgia’s antiSLAPP likely will be held NOT to to apply. Moreover, I read the federal bill ( in part) and it refers to meritless lawsuits. It is obvious this one has lots of merits. Greenpeace is in deep trouble.
Ristvan, thank you for your posts. I was about to reread the original Watts post, as I was unaware, as were several commenters, that there were two lawsuits.
TH, no need for thanks. My google fu is strong after many years of practice and I usually check stuff before commenting here or elsewhere if have not already done the research for my ebooks or businesses. Plus, am a licensed Harvard lawyer who knows a few legal search short cuts.
ristvan March 3, 2017 at 2:13 pm
Hi ristvan, I think there may be something more to this.
First can G.P. defense in the Canadian case be be entered as evidence in a U.S. court.
Second, and the fun part, G.P. has testified before Congress possibly under oath. If any of the statements they made in regard to the Canadian case were used as testimony before Congress or in a U.S. Court or official proceeding they may have a perjury problem.
This defense of theirs in the Canadian case can possible reopen every land use case they were involved in.
I think they made a very, very bad mistake.
Last Can they retract the defense once the implications sink in?
michael
MM, dunno. Very complicated. But as a rule of thumb, pleadings in different jurisdictions cannot controvert themselves
in related lawsuits. These are clearly relayed. (Fancy legal stuff for : if you lie here, you lie there.)
Thanks, rivstan . . for oodles of informative and well reasoned comments . . and humility in the process . . and don’t give me any shit about it ; )
(Or about misspelling your handle ; )
JK, my handle is is also just part of my actual email address. I wrote three topical ebooks under the same real name, Rud Istvan. Have no desire to hide under an avatar. Heck, buy and read my ebooks.
That tookyou 7minutes! Was that a billable hour?
To my several patent lawyers on my two businesses, no. They do 15 minute increments, which leads me to time our phone calls. For them 7minutes equals 15, and 17 minures equals 30. Which Is also why I personally do the majority of that lawyering for them.
For me personally, when I was a senior partner in a multibillion revenue consulting firm and its leading global rainmaker, it all depended on the negotiated assignment. Clients wanted value and results. If the value and results got delivered, then 7 minutes WAS an hour. Of course, we came to that understanding up front in the engagement. But for junior staff under me, an hour was always an hour. Period. ‘slave labor’ from Harvard Business School, so to speak.
But you make a very nice point anyway. My 7 additional minutes here were divided 0.5 finding bill, 3.5 speed reading bill, 3 finding fed court non-applications of state Slapps to fed cases. A simple clear extension of VERY famous SCOTUS ruling Erie v. Pennsylvania, 88US492 (1874). And my WUWT billing for the comments remains 0. Seems a fair price under the circumstances.
Here’s the literal truth, Green Peace you are going to have your ass sue off and your bag men will be writing big cheques . Soon you will be door knocking to help pay your
damages tab . Patrick Moore was smart to leave .
Owe we didn’t mean it isn’t a defence it’s cowardice .
Moral of the story: Don’t talk any smack you aren’t ready to lay down.
What would seem almost like a no-brainer in this defamation suit, It’s before a ‘Canuckistan’ court. All Canuckistan judges are Liberal scum who are either afraid to stand up to eco-terrorism or complicit in their actions. In Canada, the law does not apply to green weenies.
https://iea.org.uk/publications/research/canada-leaves-greenpeace-red-faced
Ken Browne-you’re an idiot!
Let’s see: Uranium, Plutonium, Lead, Mercury, Sodium, Carbon, and now Chlorine. What’s next to be on the list of the banned, Oxygen?
Oxygen?.
What an awful atmospheric pollution event that was…….My word….Damn those cyanobacteria….
There is a hypothesis that the horrors of war lead to later genetic expression as hate for materials like chlorine, radioactivity, lead, etc.
I do not know if it has merit, not my field.
Geoff
Fluorine, as in water supplies.
In CanaDUH, greenpus has a status of a charity, so it pays no income taxes, and few if any other taxes. I do not think the current prime minister will revoke this cushy, tax free status.
I just checked, and YES, greenpus is a charity in the good ol’ USofA
https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=7596
Most of the defendants in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism case were “charities”, so it gives no immunity.
That is true in the USA, but I think it may well be different in CanaDUH.
BTW, I live in CanaDUH.
Innit spelled ‘C-eh-N-eh-D-eh?’
Their main hub is Holland. The Dutch government protects them fiercely. However, if people whom they have attack so choose, greenpiss could now be sued out of existence in the form of the PPI cases in the UK. One class action suit could open the door. I’ll chuck in a few €s or £s or $s
“Greenpuss”? … I was thinking Greenpiss.
Terrorism is just fine when it’s for a good cause.
Greenpeace says it never intended people to take its words about Resolute’s logging practices as literal truth.
Yeah, right. Their whole purpose is to lie and now they lie about their purpose. So tell us, if you didn’t intend for us to believe you, what did you intend?
Indeed,
I’m sure what they really really meant to say was that all their proclamations should be considered as metaphor.
They intended to put up smoke screens to divert factual claims against them, in order to solicit more funds to continue their great mission of spreading factually unfounded accusations.
Hey, as long as they continue to file their fake Form 990, everything is cool.
Nuke the gay baby whales for Jesus!
How would we know that baby whales are gay?
Are you trying to seduce them?
You must be a cetacean paedophile!
What about the transgender whales? Eh?
Are you prejudiced?
You’re not a life-long contributor to Greenpeace, are you Goggles?
That was our counter slogan against them in the seventies. They used the same extortion racket as the Cousteau frogs. Their major expense was themselves and then diesel fuel.