Wisconsin Supreme Court rules in Fair Wisconsin's favor

June 5, 2008

Today the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that a defamation suit brought by anti-gay activist Rev. Grant Storms against Action Wisconsin (now Fair Wisconsin) was frivolous. The lawsuit was filed in response to a press release that Action Wisconsin issued decrying a 2003 speech Storms made that could be interpreted as advocating the murder of gays.

The lawsuit was dismissed in 2005, and Storms was ordered to pay court costs and attorneys' fees. Today the Supreme Court upheld that decision, which had been reversed by an appeals court. The court's 4-3 decision means Storms' attorney James Donohoo will have to pay more than $87,000 in court costs and fees because the court said he should have known the lawsuit was frivolous.

Ruling for the majority were Justices Ann Walsh Bradley (who wrote the decision), Louis Butler, Patrick Crooks and Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson. Justices Pat Roggensack, David Prosser and Annette Ziegler dissented.

We are grateful for the Court's wise decision, as well as the excellent work of our attorneys Tamara Packard and Lester Pines of Cullen Weston Pines & Bach LLP. Free speech belongs in the public forum, and bringing to light the very real harm that is done by the words of people like Rev. Storms is an important part of Fair Wisconsin's mission.