The Media Institute joined an amicus brief (led by the Reporters Committee and other amici) that was filed in late January with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (Bean Maine Lobster, Inc. v. Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation). The brief supports the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation in its challenge to a Maine District Court decision favoring the Maine lobstermen’s defamation claim. At issue are the Aquarium’s statements that “lobster fishing in the Northwest Atlantic region – an area off the New England coast – poses a risk to the endangered North Atlantic right whale and encouraged consumers to stop buying this lobster.” The brief takes issue with the District Court’s validation of a group-defamation suit based on statements against an entire, undefined industry, which would be in contrast to decades of court precedent in a number of prominent cases. It also argues that the Aquarium’s statements were based on an examination of peer-reviewed research from scientific sources and therefore contributed to the scientific debate over the protection needs and mechanisms for right whales. Lastly, it argues that Maine’s anti-SLAPP statute is implicated by the Aquarium’s comments. [2026]
