Prominent Attorneys to Monitor Oil Tycoon’s Controversial SLAPP Suit Against Greenpeace Amid Major Legal Concerns 

NEW YORK, NY – A coalition of prominent civil rights attorneys and advocates will independently monitor a high-stakes lawsuit in North Dakota where a fossil fuel company is suing Greenpeace in what experts call a blatant attempt to silence critics and suppress the climate justice movement. The trial monitoring team includes legendary civil rights attorney Marty Garbus; Indigenous rights lawyer Natali Segovia of the Water Protector Legal Collective; Jeanne Mirer, president of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, the world’s largest organization of attorneys; Terry Collingsworth, an international human rights lawyer who has led landmark lawsuits against Nestle, Tesla, and others; and Steven Donziger, the human rights advocate targeted by Chevron after helping Amazonian communities in Ecuador win a landmark pollution case. The group also includes students from Georgetown and Columbia law schools in support roles as well as other human rights experts.

“In my six decades of practice, I’ve seen many abuses of the legal system, and this case raises serious concerns,” said Garbus, who has represented Nelson Mandela, César Chávez, Václav Havel, and Daniel Ellsberg. “I am honored to join this distinguished committee to monitor what appears to be corporate overreach designed to stifle free speech.”

Donziger warned that the case could set a dangerous precedent. “This appears to be part of a broader strategy by the fossil fuel industry to weaponize the courts against activists and weaken organizations like Greenpeace in retaliation for their advocacy. Trial monitoring happens worldwide, and given the rise of legal attacks on the climate movement in the U.S., it’s time we increase scrutiny here as well.” 

The Lawsuit: A Corporate Assault on Free Speech 

Filed in 2019 by Dallas-based Energy Transfer, the lawsuit accuses Greenpeace of defamation and interfering with business operations after it provided limited support to Indigenous-led protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) in 2016–2017. Legal experts argue this is a classic Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP)—designed to intimidate critics by burdening them with costly litigation. It is scheduled for a 5-week trial to begin February 24 in the town of Mandan. 

SLAPP suits violate the First Amendment and are unconstitutional, but the judge in this case repeatedly has denied or failed to rule on motions to dismiss, raising alarms among legal observers. Greenpeace has been forced to spend millions to defend itself, diverting resources from its core mission. 

The driving force behind the case is Kelcy Warren, the billionaire founder of Energy Transfer and a major donor to President Trump’s campaigns and Republican candidates. Legal filings accuse Warren of targeting Greenpeace due to its decades-long opposition to oil industry polluters and its minor role in supporting the Indigenous-led pipeline protests that delayed his project. Indigenous peoples and environmental groups continue to criticize Warren’s company for operating the DAPL without proper permits and for the ongoing leaking of toxic fluids into drinking water sources in North Dakota, potentially threatening millions of people with health risks. 

Energy Transfer also has a long history of violating environmental laws. In 2022, the company was barred from conducting business with the federal government after being convicted of 48 criminal charges over the leak of drilling fluids into drinking water sources in Pennsylvania, according to legal filings in the North Dakota case. 

Concerns Over Fair Trial and Judicial Bias 

The group has identified multiple due process concerns in the trial, including: 

● Restricted Public Access: Judge James Gion has limited courtroom seating and denied a motion to livestream proceedings. A key pretrial hearing on Feb. 4 was held on Zoom without public access while the court docket remains inaccessible online. Even transcripts of the proceedings can take several days to be made available to the public, according to the court clerk. 

● Sealed Documents: The judge allowed Energy Transfer to seal thousands of pages of evidence that appear to show the pipeline’s history of oil spills and leaks, potentially contradicting the company’s past claims. Some of the leaks are likely to have taken place in Lake Oahe, the primary source of water for the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, according to a court filing by the Water Protector Legal Collective. “A public trial means public access to key evidence,” said Garbus. 

● Judicial Favoritism Toward Energy Transfer: The judge has repeatedly denied or refused to rule on motions to dismiss despite the lawsuit’s apparent SLAPP characteristics. Meanwhile, Energy Transfer’s lawyers from Gibson Dunn & Crutcher—a firm notorious for aggressive tactics against climate activists—continue to oppose transparency efforts. 

● Tainted Jury Pool: Legal filings reveal that Energy Transfer appears to have created a fake “independent newspaper” with pro-industry articles and distributed it to households in the area where the trial is taking place, apparently to taint the jury pool. Judge Gion has refused to let Greenpeace take discovery on who actually paid for the newspaper. 

The Gibson Dunn firm also has a troubling record on ethics issues. The Montana Supreme Court found the firm engaged in “legal thuggery” and a partner recently was disbarred for deliberately misleading the High Court of London. The firm also orchestrated Donziger’s unprecedented and illegal 993-day detention after he helped Amazon communities in Ecuador win a major legal victory over Chevron. Five U.S. federal judges and five U.N. human rights jurists have ruled that the firm’s attacks on Donziger were unlawful.

Monitoring Efforts to Ensure Transparency

The trial will be closely watched by the monitoring team, which also includes: 

●Nadia Ahmad, associate professor at Barry University School of Law, specializing in environmental and international law

●Simon Taylor, the co-founder of Global Witness

●Scott Wilson Badenoch Jr., international trial monitoring practitioner and environmental justice attorney, former Chair of the American Bar Association’s Environmental Justice Committee

●Paul Paz y Miño, deputy director of Amazon Watch, the environmental group

●Ayisha Siddiqa, 2023 Time Woman of the Year and UCLA law student

●Wade McMullen, former counsel to the Robert F. Kennedy human rights group

●Aaron Marr Page, human rights law professor, University of Iowa

●Kip Hale, international atrocity crimes attorney based in Europe

Several climate justice and civil society organizations will support the monitoring efforts so that millions can be informed in real-time and the proceedings will be transparent. “This trial must be open to public scrutiny,” said Mirer. “Sunlight is the best antidote for what appears to be corporate abuse of the legal system.”   

A Manufactured Narrative? 

Energy Transfer’s lead lawyer, Trey Cox of Gibson Dunn, also has attracted controversy. He claims without evidence on the firm’s website that Greenpeace incited “terrorist acts” during the pipeline protests—an assertion Garbus says appears to be defamatory. 

What’s at Stake 

This lawsuit is more than just a legal battle—it is a pivotal test of free speech and corporate accountability. The monitoring committee will provide independent analysis, highlighting ethical violations and potential judicial bias as the trial unfolds. “The fossil fuel industry is using the courts as a weapon against its critics,” said Garbus. “The public deserves to know everything that is happening in that courtroom.” 

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