Opening statements are scheduled to begin in the trial of a Texas pipeline company's lawsuit against Greenpeace.

The trial in North Dakota that observers are describing as a key free speech rights case has begun. Energy Transfer, a Texas-based company and the operator of the Dakota Access Pipeline, is suing Greenpeace for alleged defamation and what their lawyers describe as a “campaign of violence.

Opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline demonstrate in Bismarck in August 2016. (Kyle Martin/For the North Dakota Monitor)BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) — A behemoth defamation lawsuit brought by the developer of the Dakota Access Pipeline against Greenpeace began its trial in a Mandan courtroom on Monday.

A Texas pipeline company's lawsuit accusing Greenpeace of defamation, disruptions and attacks during protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline goes to trial in North Dakota on Monday, in a case the environmental advocacy organization says threatens free speech rights and its very future.

This case and its outcome should be the concern of every American,” a legal expert says as the Dakota Access Pipeline trial is set to begin.

A closely watched trial that could bankrupt Greenpeace begins today in North Dakota. The Texas pipeline company Energy Transfer filed a $300 million SLAPP lawsuit against Greenpeace over its role in organizing protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

In a closely watched case, the owner of the Dakota Access Pipeline is claiming the environmental group masterminded protests that hurt the company’s business.

Energy Transfer says Greenpeace used tactics including defamation, vandalism and harassment in an attempt to tarnish the company’s reputation and sink the Dakota Access Pipeline project.

The $300 million lawsuit deals with protests against a pipeline route at a Missouri River crossing north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.