February 08, 2010

SOMERVILLE — The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey (ACLU-NJ) on Friday stopped a prominent property manager from shutting down a local resident's free speech.

"This was a triumph for the First Amendment," said ACLU-NJ Staff Attorney Michael A. Norwick, who argued the case. "This ruling allows all citizens to speak freely, not just the rich and powerful. Expensive lawsuits shouldn't be used as a weapon to scare people into silence. This ruling strengthened the right to speak truth to power rather than the inclination among the powerful to control the conversation."

State Superior Court Judge Yolanda Ciccone sided with the ACLU-NJ in dismissing Plainfield landlord David Connolly's lawsuit, which claimed t-shirts graphic designer Christopher Spolarich had designed and marketed online defamed him. Spolarich, who runs a small side business selling satirical and issue-oriented t-shirts and novelties, called Connolly "a crook and a slumlord" in some of his merchandise. Connolly asked the third-party site selling Spolarich's merchandise to remove the vendor's wares and afterward filed what appeared to be a SLAPP suit, short for "strategic lawsuit against public participation."

The ACLU-NJ defended Spolarich's right to criticize Connolly, a well-known public figure in Central New Jersey. Connolly Properties manages approximately 60 residential apartment buildings in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, with about 30 of them in Plainfield. Connolly has come under intense public scrutiny in local media and among officials after complaints surfaced from his tenants of substandard living conditions. Connolly's properties have been cited for hundreds of building code violations, and his companies have pled guilty to dozens of municipal court complaints brought by the Plainfield Division of Inspections.

The judge ruled Spolarich's criticism to be a constitutionally protected opinion - not defamation - as a matter of law. Additionally, Connolly would not have been able to prove he had sustained any damages from the sale of Spolarich's products criticizing him, which were available for just slightly more than two weeks; the online store had complied with Connolly's wishes to take them down from the site.

"The prospect of being forced to pay thousands of dollars for expressing my opinions terrified me," said Spolarich. "I risked losing my house because I wrote a tongue-in-cheek slogan for a t-shirt. I'm so grateful that this ruling will send a message to anyone thinking of suing to stop free speech: no one can buy off the First Amendment."

The case, Connolly v. Spolarich, was filed in the New Jersey Superior Court, Somerset County.