Resolute Forest Products and Kasowitz Law Firm SLAPP Against Environmental Organizations

On May 31, 2016 Resolute Forest Products filed a $300 million (CAD - Canadian dollars) lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia alleging violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and other claims against Greenpeace International, Greenpeace, Inc., Greenpeace Fund, Inc., Stand.earth (formerly ForestEthics), and five individual staff members of these independent organizations.

The case was transferred to the Northern District of California on May 16, 2017 when Resolute failed to demonstrate that the case had sufficient ties to Georgia. On October 16, 2017 the U.S. District Court for Northern California dismissed all of the logging company’s claims with leave to amend. Exactly three weeks later, Resolute’s lawyers at Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP filed a repackaged version of the same meritless claims in the same court.

This baseless racketeering case is Resolute’s second Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) aiming to silence Greenpeace entities. In 2013, the company filed a CAD$7 million defamation case against Greenpeace Canada and two staff members in Ontario, which is still pending.

Click here for more information about the cases between Resolute Forest Products and Greenpeace.