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A North Dakota judge has ordered green Peace An environmental group and related entities must pay $345 million in damages, reducing an earlier jury award after finding them liable for defamation and other claims brought by a pipeline company in connection with an oil pipeline protests nearly a decade ago.
The award is about half the $667 million the jury previously awarded the company, Dallas-based Energy Transfer and subsidiary Dakota Access.
State District Judge James Jeon accepted and rejected Greenpeace’s request to rule in its favor on various claims before recalculating the damages.
Energy Transfer said it intended to appeal the verdict “because we strongly believe that the jury’s original findings of conspiracy and defamation and the damages award are lawful and just.”
The lawsuit stems from protests nearly a decade ago against the Dakota Access oil pipeline and its crossing of the Missouri River near the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s reservation. The case will proceed to the North Dakota Supreme Court.
In March, a nine-member jury found Netherlands-based Greenpeace International, Greenpeace usa and funding arm Greenpeace Fund Inc. Is liable for defamation and other claims brought by Energy Transfer.
The jury found Greenpeace USA liable on all counts, including conspiracy, trespass, nuisance and tortious interference with business relations. The other two entities were found liable for some of the total claims.
The total damages were $666.9 million, which was divided in different amounts between the three Greenpeace organizations, which had previously planned to appeal.
The pipeline company accused Greenpeace of orchestrating a plan to stop the pipeline. Greenpeace lawyers said there was no evidence to support the pipeline company’s claims.
Since the verdict, lawyers for the Greenpeace organizations asked the judge to reduce the damages and reverse the ruling in their favor. Energy Transfer asked the judge to enter the verdict returned by the jury.
The lawsuit was filed in 2019 and went to trial earlier this year in state district court in Mandan, North Dakota.
In September, the judge rejected the pipeline company’s request to block Greenpeace International from continuing with the anti-bullying lawsuit it had filed. Netherlands,