Lobster defamation case wades into free speech concerns at 1st Circuit
A panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Boston raised apprehensions Monday over the Maine lobster industry’s defamation lawsuit alleging that a seafood watchdog group’s sustainability report tanked the price of lobster. (Photo by DigiPub/Getty Images)
A panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Boston raised apprehensions Monday over the Maine lobster industry’s defamation lawsuit alleging that a seafood watchdog group’s sustainability report tanked the price of lobster.
Last year, a federal judge refused to dismiss the complaint against the Monterey Bay Aquarium—whose Seafood Watch program publishes sustainability ratings—brought by the Maine Lobstermen’s Association and related plaintiffs.
The suit said the group’s report claimed that lobster fishing nets were impacting the endangered North Atlantic right whale and discouraged consumers from buying the shellfish. After it issued a “red” environmental rating in 2022, the price of lobster tanked by 40%, according to coverage by Courthouse News Service.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium wanted the 1st Circuit to dismiss based on anti-SLAPP grounds and a First Amendment right to publish scientific opinion. A lawyer who represents the aquarium said there cannot be defamation liability for speech about an entire industry. During oral arguments Monday, 1st Circuit Judge Seth R. Aframe voiced concerns about the free speech implications of the suit.
“The more you broaden the class of people that fall within this, the more it feels like everybody can sue. That does trouble me from a First Amendment perspective,” Aframe said.
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