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Laying the SLAPPback Down
CIVIL LIBERTIES DEFENSE CENTER FILES A LAWSUIT FIGHTING A LAW FIRM
THAT USED SLAPP ON WATER ACTIVISTS
By Henry Houston
I
n 2019, the city of Weed, California, gave up
its fight for water rights with Roseburg Forest
Products after dealing with unending legal costs.
But another legal battle has begun, this time on
their behalf.
On April 22, Lauren Regan, executive direc-
tor and chief counsel of Civil Liberties Defense
Center, filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of the State
of California County of Siskiyou against the law firm that
the suit says initiated a strategic lawsuit against public
participation (SLAPP) against nine Weed residents.
The intent is to not only bring justice to the activists
but also hold the law firm Churchwell White LLP that
filed the lawsuit on behalf of Roseburg Forest Products
accountable, Regan says.
A SLAPPback is a lawsuit that claims damages for
being subject to a maliciously filed lawsuit according
to California law. The state’s law says a SLAPPback is a
way to protect free speech. California is one of eight U.S.
states that allows such suits.
“It’s saying there wasn’t any lawful basis to bring this
lawsuit other than for harassment or intimidation,” Regan
says of SLAPPback suits.
The SLAPPback case is another development in
the legal battle between water activists and Roseburg
timber. Before International Paper sold the water rights
to Roseburg timber in 1982, the city of Weed had an
arrangement to pay $1 annually for water.
In 2016, Roseburg Forest Products wanted to sell
more water to bottled water company Crystal Geyser
Roxane, and have the city pay nearly $100,000 for a
new water lease. The new lease required the city to find
another source of water in two years and stop using the
Beaughan Springs, which it had relied on for 110 years,
according to the lawsuit.
After the city signed the new lease, members of Water
for Citizens of Weed, California, (WCWC) discovered
documents that showed International Paper had
previously intended to hand off water rights to the city.
On May 11, 2017, the city of Weed sent a resolution to the
California State Water Resources Control Board, asking
It’s About Time
May is an energizing month for western Oregon nature
lovers: lots of action every day as we ride the “slow train”
through Solstice in June. Slow train because long days
have settled in. Day length changes little until late August.
Action because everything changes fast. Warm days, cold
days; rainy days and sunny days; sudden thundershowers
follow balmy breezes drifting in from the coast.
More different wildflowers bloom on any day in May than
any other month of the year. Wild animals are birthing
and teaching their pups and fawns what to eat. Mountain
birds have moved upslope. Migratory waterfowl head back
north. Resident nesting birds are ensconced in nest boxes,
hanging baskets woven from mosses, and rookeries high
in riverbank cottonwoods.
The birds we enjoy watching at home feeders have
temporarily disappeared. Every pair is building their nest
E U G E N E W E E K LY . C O M
for it to correct its records of who owns the Beaughan
Springs. The next day, Roseburg Forest Products sued
the city and the nine activists with WCWC, according
to the lawsuit.
The ongoing lawsuit resulted in more than $600,000
in legal fees for the small town, according to a Dec. 19,
2019, press release from Protect the Protest.
Roseburg Forest Products dropped its case earlier
this year.
LAUREN
REGAN
Regan says the SLAPP case diverted the attention of
the nine WCWC members from activism to the court-
room. She adds that the activists targeted in the lawsuit
were elders of the city’s community — three of whom
were former mayors.
The lawsuit says WCWC members were on fixed
incomes and were unlawfully named in the SLAPP suit.
Because of the members’ economic status, the case
caused more psychological harm than when someone
is normally sued. Several plaintiffs named in the SLAPP
by David Wagner
case who are members of WCWC are more than 80 years
old, the lawsuit says.
Filling the SLAPPback is to go on the offense and
deter other SLAPP suits that target environmental and
human rights defenders, Regan says. That’s the goal of
Protect the Protest, a coalition of 34 nongovernmental
organizations such as the ACLU and Greenpeace.
“We started realizing that the extractive industries
were sharing a playbook,” she says of law firms using
SLAPP suits. “We realized that this momentum for filing
SLAPP suits wasn’t coming from the clients. It was likely
coming from lawyers.”
Regan is the lead attorney on the case. Although she
isn’t admitted to the California Bar, she says she’s waiting
to be admitted for this case only.
Regan says she has two goals for the lawsuit: the first
is to get justice for the residents who were named in the
SLAPP lawsuit and had to focus their energies in the
courtroom; the second is to deter law firms like Church-
well White LLP and others from saying their client told
them to file SLAPP suits.
She says lawyers can’t just do the bidding of corporate
clients and say they were just doing their job.
“Lawyers have an ethical duty to make sure the claims
that they bring and lawsuits that they file have merit, that
they’re not frivolous, that they’re not being done for a
malicious or a harassing purpose,” she says. “In this case,
there’s really no other conclusion that you can draw that
that was their intent.”
Regan says SLAPPs are an abuse of power. The idea
of using the legal tactic probably wasn’t coming from
Roseburg Forest Products, she adds. It was likely from
its legal representation. And a SLAPP case is never
appropriate, Regan says. It’s meant to silence a critic
and is an abuse of the legal process.
Regan says SLAPPback cases are rare. In her 23 years
of practicing law, she says she’s never filed one. Winning
the lawsuit would put a public black eye on the law firm
that used the SLAPP against the nine Weed activists.
“It’s a public deterrent,” she says. “It will definitely
spread throughout the legal community like wildfire.” ■
LOPHODYTES CUCULLATUS
HOODED MERGANSERS
and feeding their young. They won’t come out of watchful
privacy until nestlings have fledged. They will return soon.
Keep a good stock of bird seed on hand, anticipating when
the feeders again will be drained as fast as in winter. Suet
cages will get special attention because birds need to fatten
up for migration day.
There is no reason to be bored. Take a folding chair, water
bottle, sketch book, and binoculars for a rejuvenating sit by
the river. Learn the diving ducks from dabbling ducks. One
never need feel lonely, knowing peaceful solitude isolates us
safely from the worst natural scourge in a century. Nature
entertains, comforts and sustains us.
David Wagner is a botanist who has worked in Eugene for over
40 years. He teaches moss classes, leads nature walks, and
publishes the Oregon Nature Calendar. Contact him directly at
FernZenMosses@me.com.
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