Adventure Outdoors, Inc., a Georgia business that sells firearms, appeals the dismissal of its slander complaint against New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, The Nooner Investigative Group, Tanya Marie Nooner, Melissa Merced, Joseph Tounsel,1 The James Mintz Group,2 James Mintz, Michael Cardozo,3 John Feinblatt,4 and Raymond Kelly.5 The trial court dismissed the suit because Adventure Outdoors failed to submit the affidavit required by OCGA § 9-11-11.1, the Georgia Anti-Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation “SLAPP” Statute. The trial court found that the statements in the complaint were made by officials in the context of providing information to the public about a public nuisance lawsuit filed by the City of New York against a number of gun dealers, including Adventure Outdoors. The court further found that the acts by the defendants alleged in Adventure Outdoor’s complaint could “reasonably be construed as an act in furtherance of the right to fee speech or the right to petition the government for redress of grievances under the Constitution of the United States or the Constitution of the State of Georgia in connection with an issue of public interest or concern.” Finally, the court found that Adventure Outdoors had failed to submit the verification required by OCGA § 9-11-11.1 b even though this failure had been repeatedly called to its attention. Therefore, the trial court dismissed the action because of Adventure Outdoors’ failure to comply with the Anti-Slapp Statute.
Adventure Outdoors contends the trial court erred by finding that citizens of another state were entitled to the protection of the Georgia Anti-Slapp Statute, and erred by finding that the New York defendants were arguably acting in furtherance of the right of free speech. Adventure Outdoors further contends the trial court erred by failing to consider whether the words used by the New York defendants were said in good faith and met the “fair and honest” requirements of OCGA § 51-5-7 4, 6, defining privileged communications not subject to slander claims. We disagree and affirm the trial court.
