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The Climate Litigation Database
Litigation

Shell Gulf of Mexico, Inc. v. Greenpeace, Inc.

Date
2012
Geography
Alaska
Part of
Shell Offshore, Inc. v. Greenpeace, Inc.

About this case

Filing year
2012
Status
Order issued granting motion to dismiss in part and granting Shell's motion for additional preliminary injunctive relief.
Geography
Docket number
3:12-cv-00042-SLG
Court/admin entity
United States → United States District of Alaska (D. Alaska)United States → United States Federal Courts
Case category
Climate Change Protesters and Scientists → Protesters
Principal law
United States → Maritime Law—Intentional Interference with Maritime NavigationUnited States → Maritime Law—NuisanceUnited States → Maritime Law—Tortious InterferenceUnited States → Maritime Law—TrespassUnited States → Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA)United States → State Law—ConversionUnited States → State Law—NuisanceUnited States → State Law—Trespass
At issue
Oil company lawsuit seeking to bar environmental activists from occupying its drilling ship bound for Arctic.

Documents

Filing Date
Type
Action Taken
Document
Summary
05/29/2012
Decision
Order issued granting motion to dismiss in part and granting Shell's motion for additional preliminary injunctive relief.
View
Greenpeace moved to dismiss. The court granted the motion in part, dismissing the public nuisance and tortious interference claims, but declined to dismiss the other causes of action. It also expanded a previously granted restraining order blocking activists from barricading or occupying the company’s ships bound for the Arctic.
02/27/2012
Complaint
Complaint filed.
View
Shell filed a lawsuit in Alaska federal court seeking to block environmental activists from barricading or occupying its drilling ship bound for the Arctic. The company alleged that Greenpeace members unlawfully boarded its ship in New Zealand and chained themselves to drilling equipment meant to stop the ship from reaching the Chukchi Sea. The company alleged causes for action for, among other things, nuisance, piracy, malicious mischief on the high seas, tortious interference with contractual relations, trespass, false imprisonment, and reckless endangerment.    

Summary

Oil company lawsuit seeking to bar environmental activists from occupying its drilling ship bound for Arctic.