A national freedom of speech nonprofit is stepping in to defend a Custer County man in a defamation case being appealed to the Idaho Supreme Court by a Sawtooth Valley ranch owner.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) announced this week it’s representing Gary Gadwa pro bono. Gadwa is the former long-time commander of Sawtooth Search and Rescue.
He was sued last year, along with filmmaker Jon Conti and former Blaine County Commissioners Sarah Michael and the late Dick Fosbury, by Boise businessman Michael Boren.
Boren successfully applied for a Custer County permit to designate a private airstrip on his ranch within the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. Hundreds of people voiced their opposition during the permit application process, and Boren said the named defendants -- plus 20 unnamed 'Does' in the original complaint -- made false and defamatory statements against him, leading to vandalization of his property and death threats.
District Court Judge Stevan H. Thompson dismissed the case last fall, saying it had the "potential for a great chilling effect on constitutional rights." Boren is appealing to the Idaho Supreme Court.
Gadwa had been defending himself in district court, but now he's represented by attorneys with FIRE.
“Anytime somebody gets sued for petitioning the government or speaking their mind on a matter of public concern, that's a real problem for the First Amendment," said JT Morris, a senior litigation attorney with the organization.
Boren contends the alleged defamatory statements made against him were separate from the issue the county's planning and zoning board was considering, and happened outside of the scope of the governmental process, and therefore aren't protected. Morris wants the Idaho Supreme Court to affirm the District Court's finding that the alleged statements were related to the public process and protected by the First Amendment.
In his dismissal last fall, Thompson also invited the Idaho Supreme Court to weigh in on how courts should handle cases that may be SLAPP suits, or “strategic lawsuits against public participation,” given the fact that Idaho is one of fewer than 20 states without an anti-SLAPP law.
Despite the lack of a statute, Morris said a ruling in favor of Gadwa and Michael, whose attorneys filed a joint brief late last month, could set a precedent for judges in Idaho to quickly dismiss such cases.
"It would provide lower courts with guidance that they can serve as gatekeepers and swiftly dismiss SLAPPs, and curb threats to free expression when those lawsuits come in front of them," he said.
Boren disagrees with the SLAPP characterization, and the fact that Thompson mentioned it in the ruling even with no anti-SLAPP law in Idaho.
"The DC’s gratuitous SLAPP ruling is an abuse of authority that is indisputably erroneous and, as such, cannot stand," his initial brief, filed with the Idaho Supreme Court in July, stated.
Boren's lawyer did not comment on the case Tuesday.
Find reporter Rachel Cohen on Twitter @racheld_cohen
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