A ruling this week from Franklin County Supreme Court has awarded legal fees and costs to defendants Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve and Adirondack Explorer magazine after they successfully defended themselves against a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) during 2024.
The Court has now ruled that Upper Saranac Lake Marina’s lawsuit alleging business defamation by Adirondack Wild and Adirondack Explorer was intended to intimidate the organizations from commenting and reporting about the possible environmental impacts of the Marina’s application before the Adirondack Park Agency (APA).
The Marina sought to significantly expand the former Hickok’s boat livery on Lower Fish Creek Pond in Santa Clara, NY.
In its ruling, the Court found the Marina’s lawsuit was meant “to prevent or hinder a communication in a public forum in connection with an issue of public interest – lawful conduct in furtherance of the exercise of the constitutional right of free speech.”
The Court dismissed the Marina’s allegations in their entirety.
State law includes a provision to award fees and costs for legal defense should a court rule that a lawsuit meets the legal test of a SLAPP.
Following a hearing in June, this week Supreme Court awarded Adirondack Wild’s attorneys $54,351 based on their documented expenses in defending the organization against the SLAPP. A similar amount was awarded to Adirondack Explorer’s legal team, according to David Gibson, a partner in Adirondack Wild.
In the ruling, Supreme Court stated: “Defendants had a keen interest in seeing the exercise of their free speech rights vindicated, and this litigation accomplished that goal. The work of Adirondack Wild and Adirondack Explorer, by its very nature, involves routine public engagement on matters which they believe are of importance to the public. As such, the benefits achieved by this litigation are hard to overstate from their perspective.”
The Marina, based in Saranac Lake, had sued Adirondack Wild in 2024 for a paid advertisement in the Adirondack Explorer commenting about an application to significantly expand a commercial marina on an Adirondack pond.
The lawsuit claimed Adirondack Wild’s commentary was false and defamatory and sought damages of $1 million. At the time, the marina application was under review by the APA and Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
“The purpose of Adirondack Wild’s paid advertisement was to raise questions about the marina’s impacts on the environment,” an announcement of the decision sent to the press says.
“The advertisement encouraged public comments to the state agencies. The marina owners claimed that the advertisement was false.”
Instead, Supreme Court found that “there is ample foundation upon which Adirondack Wild can reasonably claim that its statements were based either in truth or an expression of opinion.”
Adirondack Wild was represented in Court by Whiteman, Osterman, & Hanna, LLP, and the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic.
“SLAPP suits threaten the ability of the State’s citizens to participate in protecting their own environment, and we are glad the decision recognized that,” said David Ramirez of the Pace Clinic.
“These rulings set an important precedent,” Gibson said. “They encourage nonprofits to continue to speak out on important matters in the public sphere without fear of intimidation from SLAPP suits.”
Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve is a not for profit, membership organization devoted to the protection and stewardship of wilderness and other wild lands through advocacy and education.
SLAPP suit illustration courtesy Civil Liberties Defense Center.
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