A Wayne County judge on Sept. 14 declined to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by a Grosse Pointe billionaire and school board member who is suing one of his constituents over a social media post.
Judge Kevin J. Cox in Wayne Circuit Court heard nearly an hour of arguments from attorneys for Sean Cotton, an elected trustee on the Grosse Pointe Public School System board, and Kurt Lyons, a 77-year-old retiree who lives in the district.
Lyons’ attorney, Julie Hurwitz, sought to have the civil case dismissed under a new Michigan law designed to protect public speakers from frivolous lawsuits. Lyons accused Cotton of having political views aligned with the Ku Klux Klan in a Facebook group page in March.
Cox, the third Wayne County judge assigned to the case, denied the request.
No date was set for the next hearing in the case.
The case between the two men will test Michigan’s new Uniform Public Expression Protection Act, which aims to shield public speakers from abusive and frivolous litigation filings used to silence critics.
The measure, which took effect in March, passed with full bipartisan support in Michigan’s Legislature as a tool against “Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation,” or SLAPPs. Michigan was the 39th state to pass the law.
The statute allows defendants targeted by a SLAPP suit to file a special motion for expedited relief, which Hurwitz did shortly after the lawsuit was filed. That motion can freeze the expensive and time-consuming discovery process while the court determines whether a lawsuit has merit.
Cox said he read the posts Lyons made that are mentioned in the lawsuit and noted that Lyons “never says in his post ‘in my opinion’…”
During the hearing on Monday, Donovan Asmar, Cotton’s attorney, told Cox that Lyons’ statements are not opinion, as his attorney alleges, and are not protected speech.
Cotton’s attorney alleged that Lyons crossed the line, “venturing far beyond healthy debate and reasonable discussion” on March 5 when he posted: “The donor’s political views align with the Ku Klux Klan.”
Cotton, who posts under his school board Facebook page Sean Cotton for Grosse Pointe, tagged Lyons and responded within an hour on the group page: “whkh (sic) donor? Me? Are you saying my thpt (sic) political views align with those of the Ku Klux Klan?”
Days after the online post, Cotton’s attorney sent a letter demanding an online apology from Lyons. When he didn’t get one, he sued, seeking $25,000 or more in damages. Cotton’s lawyer is asking for an injunction requiring Lyons to remove the social media post and publish a statement that what he said was false.
Two Wayne County judges had already recused themselves from presiding over the controversial case.