A lawsuit from lobster groups against a California aquarium is back on hold in a reversal of a Maine federal court.
A pause on the case by a judge Tuesday, reversed his ruling in February that said the suit could move forward.
The lobster groups, including the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, claim they were harmed and defamed when the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation downgraded its rating for Maine lobster in its Seafood Watch program, and said the lobster industry threatens the North Atlantic right whale.
An appeals court in Boston is now considering whether the case is justified.
In his decision released Tuesday, Maine U.S. District Judge John Woodcock said the stay was granted partly based on the likelihood the aquarium would prevail in the case. He said the defendants had made “an adequate showing of likelihood of success on the merits, and thus that this factor weighs in favor of granting the Defendant’s request for stay.”
Woodcock said his court would wait for judgement and instructions from the appeals court.
Judge Woodcock on Tuesday also granted Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation an Interlocutory Appeal on two specific issues.
Interlocutory Appeals occur when a ruling by a trial court is appealed while other aspects of the case are still proceeding.
In this case, one issue is whether the law allows the lobster groups to claim defamation in the case, whether it “applies to defamation claims brought by a plaintiff group consisting of lobstermen who each suffered similar demonstrable economic harms as a consequence of defamatory statements made against the American lobster as a commercial product,” as Judge Woodcock wrote.
The other issue is whether the aquarium’s claims about the lobster industry are protected under its scientific opinion. The complaint by the lobster groups claims the Aquarium’s “scientific assertion is factually false and the speaker deliberately ignored and did not disclose the existence of contradictory evidence of which it was aware at the time it made the statements.”
The appeals court will be considering the Interlocutory Appeals.
