George Orwell, author of 1984 and Animal Farm, once wrote: “Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations.” There’s a lot of truth in it.
Take a recent lawsuit filed by two former correctional officers who worked at the Lowell Correctional Institution, a Florida prison in the Ocala area. They sued the Miami Herald and reporter Julie Brown over articles about the death of an inmate under suspicious circumstances.
The officers claimed they were defamed. The Herald pushed back, saying that the defamation action was a thinly veiled “SLAPP” suit. “SLAPP,” which stands for “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation,” is a vehicle used to try and keep matters out of the public eye.
Circuit Court Judge Miguel De La O ruled in favor of Brown and the Miami Herald and awarded them fees. Florida has a strong law protecting free speech that imposes severe penalties on litigants who try to use SLAPP suits to stifle dissent.
The key thing about a SLAPP lawsuit is that the person who files it really doesn’t expect to win. He/she intends to use his/her wealth and resources as a warning to others in the community. Most people can’t afford a lawyer and can’t represent themselves in court.
A recent study by the ACLU of Ohio found that most SLAPP suits involve real estate issues or zoning and land questions. We can see that happening here in South Florida.
Developer Wayne Rosen is involved in local politics the old-fashioned way. He is a frequent donor to state, county, and municipal candidates.
Rosen is trying to do a development in “downtown” Palmetto Bay. He has been meeting resistance from the locals who don’t want the town to give him zoning variances so that he can build a seven-story apartment complex near City Hall.
Just before Halloween, he filed a lawsuit against four individuals: former Mayor Shelley Stanczyk, then Vice Mayor John Dubois, then candidate and now commissioner Marsha Matson, and Gary Pastorella, a local activist and blogger.
Rosen, through his attorney J.C. Planas, claims that the four engaged in a conspiracy to interfere with his business relationship with Palmetto Bay. “Conspiracy” sounds scary. Perhaps Planas could have made it even scarier by also accusing them of “collusion.”
What’s the conspiracy? It’s hard to tell. Stanczyk opposed Rosen’s bid to change the zoning on an earlier unrelated project when she was in office. Dubois didn’t show up for a meeting where Rosen not only expected to him to attend, but to vote in Rosen’s favor. Matson campaigned on, and got elected, opposing Rosen’s project. And Pastorella sent out emails to the public speaking out against Rosen’s apartment complex.
The disjointed acts described in the Amended Complaint don’t sound like a conspiracy. They sound like citizens and candidates exercising their rights under the First Amendment to comment on important local issues.
But Rosen isn’t having any of that. The one thing that really irritates rich guys is someone standing in the way of their becoming even richer guys.
The SLAPP lawsuit filed by Rosen and Planas should be seen for what it is — an attempt to silence and intimidate the Palmetto Bay Town Council and especially its new Mayor Karyn Cunningham.
Rosen and Planas’ SLAPP tactic doesn’t seem to be working. The defendants, even the ones who can’t afford attorneys, are pushing back. Stanczyk, who was plucky during her tenure as mayor, is moving to get the case tossed out, using the same anti-SLAPP law the Miami Herald used. So are Dubois and Matson.
And since Planas and Rosen were kind enough to toss in allegations that Dubois and Stanczyk took official actions as part of this “conspiracy,” they can get Palmetto Bay to cover their legal bills. The town will likely then turn around and force Planas and Rosen to pay them back.
It is all but certain that Dubois, Matson, Stanczyk and Pastorella will succeed. Even to a layman like me, the lawsuit seems poorly drafted and ill-conceived. The day of the SLAPP suit, where a wealthy developer can cry havoc and let slip the dogs of law, are coming to a close.
Here’s to hoping that he who SLAPPs gets SLAPPed back harder.
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