Idyllwild Newspaper Defeats Defamation Claim

Posted by Terry Francke, General Counsel | Sep 21, 2010 | Legal Issue: Freedom of the Press | 0 |

By Anne Lowe

FREE PRESS A former Chamber of Commerce president has filed a motion to dismiss his defamation lawsuit against the Idyllwild Town Crier, the Press-Enterprise in Riverside reports.

In two May 6 articles, the newspaper said former Idyllwild chamber President Ken Carlson had unilaterally inserted his name on the organization's ballot, even though he was not nominated under its bylaws.

Carlson asked for a retraction, was denied, and sued for defamation in federal court.

Attorney Jim Manning, of Riverside-based Reid & Hellyer, filed an anti-SLAPP motion — which stands for strategic lawsuit against public participation — that led to Carlson's filing to dismiss his own suit. The newspaper reported that Carlson agreed to pay $5,000 in attorney fees.

Under the anti-SLAPP motion procedure, the Town Crier first had to show it was being sued for an activity protected by the Constitution. When that succeeded, the burden shifted to Carlson to show he had a reasonable chance of prevailing. He settled instead.

About The Editor

Terry Francke, General Counsel

Terry Francke has a 39-year history of helping journalists, citizens and public officials understand and use their First Amendment and open government rights. With CalAware, Francke has authored comprehensive and authoritative guidebooks to California law on access to government meetings and public records and the news gathering and publication rights of journalists. Focusing on these issues in public forum law, he supervises CalAware's legislative and litigation initiatives; conducts workshops on legal compliance; helps design public records audits; supports local sunshine ordinance drafting efforts; writes CalAware Today, a blog on current developments and proposals in the law and best practices; and answers countless queries by phone and e-mail from citizens, journalists, public officials and employees, and lawyers. Francke previously served 14 years as executive director and general counsel to the California First Amendment Coalition, after a 10-year post as legal counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association. He has served as an advisory panel member to the National Center on Courts and the Media; taught journalism law at the Department of Communication at Stanford University; and served as an expert contributor to the 1994 major revisions to the Ralph M. Brown Act and the 2004 ballot proposition making open government a basic right of citizens under the California Constitution. Francke is a 1967 graduate of the University of Notre Dame and a 1979 graduate of McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific. Prior to his legal career, Francke worked as a weekly newspaper editor and in military and local government public affairs positions.

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