Represented by Eugene Volokh, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and emeritus law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, FAC appeared in Roe v. Smith, a defamation case in Los Angeles County Superior Court, to oppose the plaintiffs’ attempt to pursue the case anonymously.
The lawsuit alleges that a student and her mother defamed the plaintiffs by falsely stating that one of the plaintiffs committed sexual assault and that both of them were homophobic. According to the lawsuit, the allegedly false statements derived from hostility and resentment against the plaintiffs due to their achievements at the high school attended by one of the defendants. The plaintiffs seek anonymity because they are concerned for the impact of the case on their reputations.
The right of public access to court records and proceedings ensures transparency and allows the public to monitor the fairness of judicial decision-making. The right of access generally includes the right to know the identity of the parties. For that reason, parties to litigation are allowed to remain anonymous only in unusual circumstances.
A defamation lawsuit seeks to clear the plaintiff’s name of allegedly false accusations that harmed the plaintiff’s reputation. When plaintiffs seek to protect their reputations by obtaining a ruling that the statements are false and defamatory, they should not be allowed to conceal their identities simply because they are concerned about reputational harm, which is an issue in every defamation case.
Legal Documents:
- Complaint (3/29/2024)
- Plaintiffs’ motion to proceed under pseudonym (11/12/2024)
- FAC’s opposition to plaintiffs’ motion (12/16/2024)
- Trial court’s ruling (1/7/2025)