A lawyer who had filed a defamation claim against a newspaper for comments on a message board on its website found himself saddled with the newspaper’s legal fees after the newspaper filed a motion under the anti-Slapp statute designed to protect free speech from meritless legal threats. -DB
Chico Enterprise Record
April 24, 2009
CHICO — An attorney has been ordered to pay the Enterprise-Record more than $65,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs after he filed a lawsuit against the newspaper that he later withdrew.
Paul Boylan of Davis filed a lawsuit in Butte County Superior Court in November, claiming defamation and negligence by the newspaper because of comments posted on a message board for ChicoER.com readers hosted by Topix.net.
Sixteen days later, the newspaper filed a motion to strike Boylan’s lawsuit under a state law designed to protect free speech, called the anti-SLAPP statute. Five days later, Boylan dismissed the complaint.
The anti-SLAPP statute allows the defendant to recover attorneys’ fees and costs, and the Enterprise-Record filed a motion for its fees and costs, which grew as Boylan contested the motion.
By the time the case appeared before Judge Barbara Roberts on Feb. 23, the E-R owed $65,066 to its attorneys at Holme Roberts and Owen in San Francisco.
On April 3, Roberts ordered Boylan to pay the full fees and costs. An agreement setting forth the terms for Boylan’s payment of that amount was finalized by the parties this week.
“We’re glad this is behind us. It was a long and unnecessary fight,” said Enterprise-Record Editor David Little. “The anti-SLAPP statute was designed just for this purpose, so that free speech isn’t chilled by meritless legal threats. And thank goodness there is a provision to repay newspapers that have to pay to fight needless lawsuits. Those protections allow us to stand up for the principle of free speech. We take that role seriously.”
Boylan’s objections were about readers’ online comments at the bottom of an August letter to the editor. The letter was about a lawsuit filed by the Sacramento Valley Mirror against the Glenn County Office of Education.
Boylan represented the Willows newspaper and was awarded $100,000 in attorney’s fees in an agreement negotiated with GCOE. The letter received more than 1,000 comments over several months.
Copyright 2009 Chico Enterprise Record