First Circuit Reverses District Court’s Denial of Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation’s Motion to Dismiss Lobster Fisherman Defamation Lawsuit

On October 9, 2026, the First Circuit Court of Appeals issued its order and opinion in Bean Maine Lobster, Inc. v. Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation, a defamation case brought by individuals and groups involved in the Maine lobster fishing industry against the Foundation based on the Foundation’s giving American lobster a “red” rating in its Seafood Watch program due to the danger to the North Atlantic right whale. Bergeson partners Rebecca Kaufman and John Pernick, with co-counsel Russell Pierce from the Maine firm of Norman, Hanson & DeTroy, LLC, represented the Foundation in the action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine and moved to dismiss the case on various grounds, including that the plaintiffs could not state a claim because none of the Foundation’s statements regarding the dangers to right whales caused by lobster fishing was directed at any of the plaintiffs individually. The First Circuit, in overturning the District Court’s denial of that motion to dismiss, agreed with the argument Bergeson and its co-counsel had presented in the District Court (and that the Foundation repeated in the appeal), that the plaintiffs could not establish that any of the Foundation’s statements were about them in particular as opposed to lobster fisherman generally. The First Circuit ruled that, as a result, the plaintiffs’ claims were barred by the rule barring defamation claims brought by an individual based on the allegation that the individual is the member of a large group of people that has been defamed—the “group defamation rule.” Based on that finding the First Circuit ordered the District Court to reverse its ruling denying the motion to dismiss that Bergeson and its co-counsel had made on behalf of the Foundation to dismiss the case against the Foundation.