Environmental Group Sued by Oil Refinery

In 1999, the oil refinery Tosco sued Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), claiming that CBE had libeled and slandered Tosco in the course of Clean Air Act lawsuits CBE had brought against Tosco.

Tosco brought its suit in federal court rather than state court, seemingly in an attempt to avoid the California anti-SLAPP law. The tactic did not work; the federal court dismissed the Tosco suit for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. 

See Tosco v. Communities for Better Environments, 236 F.3d 495 (2001)