In the defamation lawsuit former Mayor Ray Murphy and former Council member Bill Veach are defending themselves in, filed by Karen Woodson and John King, a nearly 4-hour mediation was held on Wednesday and did not result in a settlement. The word is the two sides are miles apart.
Both sides decided mediation will continue after a court hearing on June 2nd when Judge Keith Kyle will rule on a motion to dismiss the case filed by Veach and Murphy. Kyle ordered the mediation before the June 2nd hearing alerting both sides that they would be spending a lot of money in attorney’s fees if this case went all the way to trial.
King and Woodson filed the lawsuits alleging Veach and Murphy, who chaired the committee to recall them, lied when they said they violated the Sunshine Law and accepted gifts from developers. Veach and Murphy never provided any proof in the recall, nor were they required to. The recallers made it clear to voters the recall was all about development, specifically their Seagate vote.
Murphy and Veach have asked Kyle to dismiss the case calling it an anti-SLAPP lawsuit. An anti-SLAPP law is a legal mechanism that allows defendants to quickly dismiss meritless lawsuits aimed at silencing public participation and free speech. SLAPP stands for “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation.” Veach and Murphy argue that this lawsuit is a violation of their 1st amendment rights.
Beach Talk Radio will be in the court room Tuesday to cover the hearing in front of Judge Kyle.
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Ed,
are you going to broadcast the hearing live on your youtube or facebook page?
There is zero doubt that Karen ans a John were defamed by the recall effort and also zero doubt that Murphy and Veach used a gap in the statute which didn’t require proof of allegations to kick them off the Council. The facts are that their actions weren’t illegal but they still caused harm to their reputations. Arbitration should include an agreement for Veach and Murphy to simply make written public statements acknowledging this because it is the only way to undo the reputational harm created…and would be the just thing for them to do if they are honorable men.
Whoa, Jim. You seem to have this settled. Not that easy. Put your gavel away.
First, it can be argued Woodson and King damaged their own reputations as council members by voting for seagate in the face of widespread public opposition, demonstrated by that 63 percent vote to show them the door. At no time did that vote center on anything else.
More important, since they are or were public officials they have the burden of showing the allegations by respondents were made with Actual Malice, that is that Murphy and Veach knew their allegations were false but published them anyway with wreckless disregard for the truth. That’s a tough burden to overcome.
I seem to recall some specific assertions of alleged wrongdoing – something about a boat slip for Woodson by Moss Marina as it sought its development permits and interference by King in employee matters.
That actual malice burden was established by our Supreme Court in Times vs Sullivan in 1964 specifically and intentionally to protect people’s right to criticize their government as the First Amendment gives us.
This lawsuit is far from a sure thing.
Hear ye, hear ye, it ain’t over till its over.
That’s pretty rich coming from a guy who openly acknowledged the recall effort was based solely on their Seagate vote when it was first raised – and not the alleged ethics violations, but as usual, you have demonstrated that liberal politics and “and any means to an end” means more to you (and your recall posse) than owning up to real ethics and morality. It’s just par for the course for people of your ideology but don’t expect good objective people to take you seriously with that type of duplicitous behavior. It’s just sad.