Huntingdon Life Sciences has dropped its RICO lawsuit against Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, according to a SHAC press release.
The lawsuit was filed in April 2001 and accused SHAC, other animal rights groups and individual activists of criminally interfering with a legitimate business enterprise.
SHAC’s press release tried to spin the withdrawal of the lawsuit as a great victory with Kevin Jonas saying,
HLS is a cowardly company and its pathetic attempt at intimidation through this lawsuit has blown up in its face. In dismissing this lawsuit, the lab has abandoned all of its supporters it sought to protect, via injunctive relief, had it won. The SHAC campaign is poised for victory and nothing Huntingdon throws at us will slow our progress.
Given how the anti-SHAC campaign seems to have stalled and business at HLS appears to be picking up, this seems to be wishful thinking on Jonas’ part (whatever happened to SHAC’s claims last fall that HLS was teetering on the brink?)
In an e-mail newsletter, the Foundation for Biomedical Research had a more realistic take on the decision,
SHAC has made a hollow claim of victory after Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) withdrew its RICO lawsuit against the activist group. However, the truth of the matter is that HLS has been successful in obtaining all of the protective measures they had sought in the lawsuit, making the case unnecessary.
In fact, the SHAC activists are getting so desperate, they are apparently going to start targeting beleagured WorldCom because it provides telephone and Internet access to HLS. According to a short item that appeared in The Guardian,
Greg Avery, the public face of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, calls to say that the US telecoms company provides phone and email services to Huntingdon Life Sciences. He intends to organise a campaign to show the company’s senior executives the error of their ways. Mr Avery is back on the campaign scene after recently spending six months in prison – he has just had his electronic tag removed and is ready to don his balaclava once more. His parole officer will be proud.
Sources:
Huntingdon Life Sciences fails in multi-million dollar suit. Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty USA, Press Release, July 8, 2002.
Foundation for Biomedical Research, e-mail newsletter, July 9, 2002.
City diary. Richard Adams, The Guardian (London), July 9, 2002.