Stacey Evans (left) and Josh McLaurinState GOP Hit With Libel Lawsuit Over Mailers Sent in House Race
The lawsuit comes after the GOP was warned that a mailer sent out by the party claiming a Democratic candidate was under criminal investigation was libelous and actionable.
October 17, 2018 at 01:33 PM
3 minute read
Atlanta attorney Stacey Evans has made good on her threat to sue the state Republican Party for libel on behalf of a Democratic candidate for the state House of Representatives, who she contends was intentionally smeared by party mailers.
Evans, a former state legislator who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic gubernatorial nomination earlier this year, filed the lawsuit late Tuesday in Fulton County State Court on behalf of Democrat Josh McLaurin, an attorney with Atlanta's Krevolin & Horst who is running for a seat in House District 51. McLaurin is challenging Republican Sandy Springs attorney Alex Kaufman of Kaufman & Forman for a seat vacated by Republican lawyer Wendell Willard, the longtime chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Willard anointed Kaufman as his successor.
Evans sued after warning the GOP last week that a mailer sent out by the party claiming McLaurin was under criminal investigation was libelous and actionable, even though McLaurin is a public figure. The suit branded the mailers as “an extreme measure to keep [House District] 51 in Republican hands.”
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The mailer was based on an administrative complaint filed in May with Secretary of State Brian Kemp by Vincent Russo, the GOP's chief deputy general counsel and counsel to Kemp's Republican gubernatorial campaign. Russo is an attorney with RGR, the new lobbying arm of The Robbins Law Group in Atlanta.
An earlier administrative complaint Russo and RGR partner David Dove, Kemp's former chief of staff and legal counsel, filed on behalf of a former Sandy Springs city councilman to challenge McLaurin's residency was thrown out in April by an administrative law judge.
In an Oct. 9 letter to the GOP, Evans demanded a retraction in a curative mailer. Instead, the party doubled down, sending out a new mailer late last week repeating the “criminal investigation” claims.
Contending that “false and defamatory statements” about McLaurin were made “with actual malice,” Evans said the state GOP “crossed the threshold from speech protected by the First Amendment to enter the arena of actionable defamation.”
“I hate that politics has come to the point of opponents spewing straight-up lies,” Evans said Wednesday. “We filed this lawsuit to stand up and say that the truth still matters and actions have consequences.”
Russo said the party is reviewing the complaint, which it considers “a serious matter,” and is preparing a public statement.
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