Cop's Bogus Defamation Lawsuit Nearly Puts A Small Iowa Newspaper Out Of Business

from the all-the-anti-SLAPP-legislation-motivation-anyone-needs dept

Sometimes the goal of a libel lawsuit isn't to win. Sometimes the goal is to simply inflict as much financial pain as possible. Sometimes all the plaintiff really wants is to destroy the entity they're suing. It's more about being vindictive than being vindicated.

Baseless defamation lawsuits are easily headed off in states with good anti-SLAPP laws. Unfortunately, there are only a small number of states with a law worth invoking. And there's no federal anti-SLAPP law, so vexatious litigants (like, say… Devin Nunes) are free to inflict financial pain on their opponents without worrying about paying the other side's legal fees when their cases are tossed.

Even if you win in court, you can still lose in life. Without a solid fee-shifting provision that makes the losing party responsible for the winner's expenses, plaintiffs don't need to win their lawsuits to emerge victorious.

That's the case here. A small Iowa newspaper is facing the possibility of going out of business, thanks to a bogus defamation lawsuit. The suit was filed by a local police officer who didn't like having the public being informed about his multiple underage dalliances.

The Carroll Times Herald article (former) Officer Jacob Smith sued over was published in 2017. It detailed an investigation of Smith's off-duty hobbies, the ensuing investigation, and Smith's resignation. Here's the Times Herald's recounting of Smith's not-so-illustrious law enforcement career.

The Times Herald’s investigation found that Smith was fired from his first police job in eastern Iowa in 2015, in part, because he sent inappropriate private messages on Facebook to a 16-year-old girl while he was on duty. Following his hire in Carroll, a 17-year-old girl moved into his house while she still attended high school, and she was later accused of defacing the car of a 19-year-old woman with whom Smith had a brief relationship.

One day after this article was published, Officer Smith sued the paper. He alleged his reputation had been damaged by the alleged libel and swore that his career as a law enforcement officer was over. (Smith was either unfamiliar with the cop shop revolving door, or was conveniently ignoring this [awful] truism to increase potential damages.)

The court dismissed Officer Smith's case, finding the paper's article was based on plenty of facts. These included recordings of city council meetings where Smith's messages to the 16-year-old girl were discussed, as well as Smith's own deposition in which he admitted that dating a 17-year-old "wasn't right" and "looked like shit."

Here's what the judge had to say about that:

“The article at issue is accurate and true, and the underlying facts undisputed,” [Judge Thomas] Bice wrote in his 10-page ruling.

The officer also claimed the newspaper's publication of a quote from his ex-wife -- one in which she called the officer a "pedophile" -- was also defamatory. The judge said the ex-wife's opinion (which seems to be based on Smith's fondness for underage girls) was protected speech. Further, the court said the officer's resignation was of public interest and the paper's reporting served that interest without crossing the line into libel.

The paper won, but it's losing.

A small Iowa newspaper that exposed a police officer's sexual relationships with a teenage girl is raising money after successfully fighting a libel lawsuit filed by the police officer. Douglas Burns, vice president of the Carroll Times Herald, said the western Iowa newspaper's investigation and resulting lawsuit cost it thousands of dollars in expenses and lost revenue.

More than $140,000 to be exact. That's what's still left to be paid after the paper's libel insurance picked up its part of the tab. The paper has been in the Burns family's hands since 1929. Without outside assistance, it could go out of business. Now, Burns is asking readers -- and those generally opposed to baseless legal bullying -- to help out. So far, it seems to be working. A GoFundMe page that has raised more than $45,000 in less than 24 hours.

Not every defendant will be so lucky. Surviving a baseless lawsuit takes money and time. If plaintiffs have a little of both, they can do more damage than defendants can ever hope to recoup. This is why strong anti-SLAPP laws matter. They deter baseless lawsuits by giving defendants a way to escape before the bleeding begins, and holds plaintiffs responsible for the damage they've caused by forcing them to pay their opponents' legal fees.

Sure, some people were fine with Gawker being run out of business by a vengeful venture capitalist. But would these same people be okay with a small paper closing shop because it made the mistake of printing facts?

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Filed Under: anti-slapp, defamation, free speech, iowa, jacob smith, journalism, newspapers, police, slapp

Companies: the carroll times herald