Cleveland-Cliffs and its CEO Lourenco Goncalves, along with United Steelworkers union president David McCall, have filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel, calling the legal action retaliatory and infringing on their First Amendment rights.
In a court filing on Tuesday, the defendants argued that the plaintiffs’ claims of antitrust violations and tortious interference were without merit. The lawsuit was initially brought in January 2023 after Cleveland-Cliffs and its executives publicly criticized Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel, which was ultimately blocked by President Joe Biden. The lawsuit claims that the defendants engaged in a campaign to sabotage the merger and undermine U.S. Steel’s competitive edge.
A Bold Rejection of Lawsuit Claims
The motion to dismiss argued that the criticisms leveled by Cleveland-Cliffs and its executives were protected by the First Amendment. The defendants contended that their public remarks about the proposed deal, including statements calling it “dead” before official reviews, were lawful expressions of concern about national security and economic stability.
