If Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer thought the defamation lawsuit he filed last week against 2022 Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake would stop her from talking about stolen elections and fraud, he bet wrong.
Lake appears unfazed by the 104-page lawsuit filed June 22 on Richer’s behalf by attorneys Daniel Maynard and Douglas Erickson. In fact, she has spent the last few days dogging Richer with a series of tweets and retweets.
“I’m exposing the massive corruption in our elections and this jackass is suing me,” she wrote in a tweet after learning of the lawsuit. “Those who orchestrated the wide-spread fraud want us to shut-up and accept it. We won’t.”
The so-called “Republican” in charge of Maricopa Co. Elections continues to bash me and President Trump.
Do you think he will run 2024 elections fairly?
FYI: In 2022 he formed a super-PAC to bring down MAGA candidates.
I’m told all expenditures went toward taking-down…
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) June 24, 2023
Richer, also a Republican, is suing the former longtime television news anchor in his personal, not official, capacity. He is seeking compensation for “substantial reputational, financial, physical, emotional, and professional harm,” according to the lawsuit.
In turn, Lake is using the litigation during public appearances and interviews to seek legal defense funds and as an opportunity to promote her book which comes out June 29.
Guess who's paying for @Stephen_Richer's lawfare attack against @KariLake?
It's the Protect Democracy Project! The far-left organization that wages lawfare against #AmericaFirst politicians.
They want to outlaw questioning elections.
There's nothing more undemocratic than…
— Kari Lake War Room (@KariLakeWarRoom) June 23, 2023
It is a pattern Richer complains about in the lawsuit, alleging Lake has “raised money and benefited” from “defamatory falsehoods” about him. .
Richer’s lawsuit names two other defendants: Lake’s official campaign committee which she chairs and the nonprofit Save Arizona Fund Inc. Richer contends Lake “controls” Save Arizona Fund even though the Arizona Corporation Commission lists the only directors as Caroline Wren and Nicholas Moore.
Richer also contends Lake and the other defendants have “repeatedly and falsely” accused him of causing Lake’s loss to Katie Hobbs last November. The lawsuit
points to Lake’s assertion that Richer, as Maricopa County Recorder, “sabotaged the election to prevent Republican candidates, including Lake, from winning.”
Lake has not yet announced who will represent her in court, but Arizona Daily Independent has confirmed that service was effected against the three defendants last week by email.
In Arizona, a private person suing for defamation must show that a defendant not only made a false and defamatory statement, but knew the false and defamatory nature of the statement and then acted in reckless disregard of the falsity of statement or negligently failed to ascertain them.
In addition, the allegedly defamatory statement must “imply assertions of material fact that are provably false” instead of simply statements of opinion.
But Richer is also an elected official, which often requires a higher threshold for proving defamation, even for a lawsuit brought in the official’s individual capacity.
And the vast majority of the alleged defamatory statements by Lake and her campaign are connected to political speech, including campaign advertising and fundraising. Such speech has been highly protected by Arizona courts in recent years.
Arizona law also protects against strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP). According to the Reporters Committee For Freedom Of The Press, anti-SLAPP laws are intended to prevent people from using courts -or the threat of litigation- to intimidate people who are exercising their First Amendment rights.
All of which could make it harder for Richer to show the statements fall outside the protections of the First Amendment, which Richer must do to prevail in the case.
It is one reason several attorneys say it will be critical for Richer to convince a judge to allow attorneys to have access to Lake’s emails, text messages, and even encrypted social media communications.
Richer, who was admitted to the State Bar of Arizona in 2016, has acknowledged the critical balance when it comes to free speech.
“I firmly believe in the protections afforded to all of us under the First Amendment, but when people harm their fellow citizens through defamation, they
should be held accountable,” Richer noted after the lawsuit was filed. “In America, no one is above the law, and I am standing up for that principle and seeking justice for what my family and I have been put through.”
Richer’s lawsuit was filed in Maricopa County Superior Court and has been assigned to Judge Jay Adleman, himself a registered Republican.
Adleman is a 1998 graduate of the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law and was appointed to the bench in 2013 by then-Gov. Jan Brewer.