Recent Lawsuit Involving Wausau News Site Highlights Importance of ANTI-SLAPP Laws

Friday, August 18th, 2023 -- 9:17 AM

(Sarah Lehr, Wisconsin Public Radio) A nonprofit news site in central Wisconsin is raising money to help cover its legal fees after being sued by a politician. 

According to Sarah Lehr with Wisconsin Public Radio, earlier this year, a Marathon County judge dismissed a lawsuit filed in 2021 by Mosinee businessman Cory Tomczyk.

Tomczyk, who's now a Republican state senator representing the 29th District, accused the Wausau Pilot & Review of defamation after it reported that he was overheard using an anti-gay slur against a teenager while in the audience at a Marathon County Executive Committee meeting.

Despite the publication's victory in circuit court, Pilot & Review Publisher Shereen Siewert said it's racked up between $150,000 and $200,000 in legal bills. Those expenses were enough to put the small news outlet in danger of shutting down, Siewert said.

"When the judge dismissed the (complaint), his reasoning that was outlined in his ruling was very clear," said Siewert, "It was very sound reasoning, and we were so relieved. But then we realized that even if we win, we lose."

Siewert also is employed by Wisconsin Public Radio as part-time host of the regional news and culture talk show, Route 51. WPR staff members who interact regularly with Siewert were not involved with the reporting or editing of this article.

Tomczyk is appealing the circuit ruling. He "unequivocally denies" using the slur at the county meeting and "looks forward to clearing his good name at trial," his attorney Matthew Fernholz wrote in an email.

The Pilot & Review's total annual budget is about $180,000, Siewert said. After the New York Times published an article about the Pilot & Review's situation this week, Siewert says donations have been pouring in through direct contributions and a newly launched GoFundMe.

She says she's no longer worried about imminent closure. Nonetheless, Erik Ugland, who teaches media law at Marquette University, says lawsuits like Tomczyk's could have a chilling effect on other media outlets.

Siewert says the protracted legal saga is evidence of Wisconsin's need for what's known as anti-Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation or "ANTI-SLAPP" laws. At least 32 other states have those laws, which are intended to guard against lawsuits seeking to chill free speech and freedom of the press rights, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

In some states, those laws allow defendants to get a suit dismissed quickly before a costly discovery process. In other cases, they make it easier for defendants to win back attorney fees and costs.

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