| Anti-Slapp Victory for
Inner City Press Over Frivolous
$10M Defamation Suit Is Not Enough
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE,
Aug 7 – Freedom of the press
is not free.
When the subjects
of press coverage seek to
retaliate, for example with
frivolous defamation
litigation demanding $10
million dollars, an
independent media like Inner
City Press is taken away from
its ongoing reporting to have
to defend the case.
In November
2022 Inner City Press reported
in the U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New
York, as it does daily, on a
criminal case to which a
California based defendant
pled guilty.
Inner City Press attended and
then recounted a proceeding in
which the defendant's bail was
nearly revoked, with the
prosecutors asking "to modify
Plaintiff’s conditions of
release pending sentencing to
preclude him from contacting
two ex-girlfriends on the
basis he had been accused of
domestic abuse—a request Judge
Preska granted. (Id. Exs. 1–2;
accord DRJN Ex. 3, ECF No.
20-4.)" Aug. 7, 2024 ruling here.
A year
later, to the day, the
defendant - a disbarred lawyer
- filed a one million
defamation lawsuit against
Inner City Press. Then he
amended it to $10 million
adding to the caption,
"Matthew Russell Lee,
reporter."
Jump cut to
August 7, 2024 - after months
of worry, and having to get
admitted to the Second Circuit
Court of Appeals, after months
of work and appreciated pro
bono help from Ballard Spahr
via Matthew Cate and Robert
Gutierrez, U.S. District Court
for the Central District of
California Judge Mark C.
Scarci granted Inner City
Press' and Lee's motion to
strike under California's
anti-SLAPP law, and set a
schedule for Ballard Sparh to
seek its legal fees.
While
anti-SLAPP laws go some
distance to discouraging
frivolous defamation lawsuits,
the worry and chilling effect
of such suits cannot be
underestimate. Inner City
Press will not cease. The
Press must be free.
***
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Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
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Copyright 2006-2024 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com
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