THUNDER BAY — A lawsuit filed by Resolute Forest Products against Greenpeace remains unresolved, six years after it was launched.
A Superior Court justice in Thunder Bay is managing the case which is still in the discovery stage, with no trial scheduled as yet.
In May 2013, Resolute filed a suit for defamation and economic interference, seeking $7,000,000 from Greenpeace Canada and two of its staff members.
The company alleged it had been harmed by false statements about its management practices in the Canadian boreal forest.
Greenpeace denied the allegations and charged that Resolute was out to silence its critics with a SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) lawsuit.
In discovery proceedings, parties are required to produce records that are relevant to their claims.
A lawyer involved in the case expects that, given the current pace of the proceedings and the work that still has to be done, if it does go to trial, it won't be either this year or even next year.
Resolute, in 2016, filed a similar but much larger lawsuit against Greenpeace and other defendants in the U.S. court system, based in part on Greenpeace's self-described Resolute: Forest Destroyer campaign.
The complaint included racketeering, trademark, defamation and tortious interference claims.
Racketeering claims against the defendants were dismissed in January of this year, but a California judge allowed the defamation and unfair competition claims against Greenpeace to continue.
The environmental advocacy group said at the time "we will vigorously defend ourselves and believe we will prevail because we rely on the best available science."
When it launched the lawsuit, Resolute described the accusations against it as malicious.
"Our company strives for the highest standards of environmental stewardship, which is why the attacks on us are so obviously cynical and thoroughly irresponsible," it said in a statement.
