"It’s a SLAPP!: Fox Petroli Targets Environmental Activists with €2 Million Lawsuit Over One Word" 2/10/25

In June 2025, Italian energy company Fox Petroli S.p.A. launched a €2 million lawsuit against two local environmental defenders, accusing them of defamation for describing a former fuel storage site as “degraded” in an article they wrote for ImgPress. The CASE Coalition officially recognises the lawsuit as a SLAPP.

The defendants, Roberto Malini and Lisetta Sperindei, are members of “PESARO: NO LNG”, a grassroots citizens’ committee opposing the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in the Tombaccia neighbourhood of Pesaro, Italy. For more than seven months, the group has been campaigning against the project proposed by Fox Petroli S.p.A., a financially powerful petroleum and energy company.

Their concerns are serious: the company’s chosen site sits in a densely populated and environmentally sensitive urban area. It has hosted hydrocarbon storage and processing activities for decades and is widely considered contaminated and in need of remediation. Numerous institutional and technical reports – including those produced by Fox Petroli itself – confirm the site’s condition, noting the presence of obsolete diesel tanks dating back to the 1950s and the need for a substantial clean-up operation.

In May 2025, the PESARO: NO LNG Committee filed a formal environmental complaint, warning authorities about potential risks to public health and safety at the site. They simultaneously issued a press release announcing their action, which was published on the news platform ImgPress. The statement described the site as “degraded” – language that Fox Petroli now claims damaged its reputation.

On 30 June 2025, Fox Petroli S.p.A. filed a civil defamation lawsuit against Malini and Sperindei. The company is seeking an extraordinary €2 million in damages – roughly 5% of its annual turnover – a figure wildly disproportionate to the alleged reputational harm caused by the use of the word “degraded” in the press release.