Energy Transfer Equity, L.P. v. Greenpeace International

The federal district court for the District of North Dakota ruled that the developers of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) failed to establish claims under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) against Greenpeace and three individual anti-pipeline protestors. Greenpeace allegedly raised money based on false information about DAPL’s impact on the environment and Native American lands and provided funds to support DAPL protestors. One of the individual defendants was allegedly an organizer for the Red Warrior Camp, an encampment of protestors who allegedly delayed the construction of DAPL and damaged plaintiffs’ property. A second individual allegedly received training from Earth First! (which had already been dismissed from the lawsuit) and used an oxy-acetylene cutting torch to cut holes in the pipeline in Iowa. The third individual, a pipeline campaigner for Greenpeace, allegedly trained anti-pipeline protestors in Louisiana. Other named individual defendants had not been served. The court found that the plaintiffs’ allegations were insufficient to establish a RICO “enterprise” because although the defendants shared the common purpose of opposing DAPL, there was “no ongoing organization, no continuing unit, and no ascertainable structure distinct from the alleged RICO violations.” The court also pointed out problems with the amended complaint’s allegations of a pattern of racketeering activity, including shortcomings in the allegations of predicate acts of wire and mail fraud, drug trafficking, money laundering, and interstate transportation of stolen property, and the absence of allegations concerning how these alleged predicate acts caused the plaintiffs’ injury. The court dismissed the RICO claims with prejudice, declined to exercise jurisdiction over the remaining state-law claims, and denied plaintiffs’ motion for an extension of time to serve.

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In January 2019, a second individual defendant moved for her dismissal from the Dakota Action Pipeline (DAPL) developers’ Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) action against Greenpeace and other environmental groups and activists who opposed and protested against DAPL. The defendant—who described herself as a lifelong Arizona resident “raised as a person of faith and conscience” who “has spent the majority of her young life engaged in community service and public interest activism”—argued that there was no allegation that she was connected in any way to the alleged enterprise other than “an apparent shared desire to stop the pipeline.” She also argued that the court lacked personal jurisdiction and that there was insufficient process and service of process.