Judge throws out Ann Rule’s lawsuit against Seattle Weekly
Feb 27, 2014, 8:30 AM | Updated: 9:37 am
A judge has thrown out true-crime author Ann Rule’s defamation lawsuit against the Seattle Weekly, finding that an article accusing her of “sloppy storytelling” constitutes protected free speech.
Rule, who has written dozens of best-selling books, sued the Seattle Weekly and freelance author Rick Swart over a piece published in 2011.
The article criticized her book about Liysa Northon, an Oregon woman who served 12 years in prison after killing her husband.
Attorney Ann Bremner said the story damaged Rule’s reputation.
“The article was written by the fiance of the convicted murderer, now her husband. He was very critical of Ann, and as our claim that he made false statements about her in that article,” Bremner told KIRO Radio.
When it ran the story, the Weekly didn’t realize that Swart, then a longtime Oregon journalist, was engaged to marry Northon.
But a King County Superior Court judge dismissed the claims, saying the article was free speech.
Judge Laura Inveen dismissed the claims in separate rulings Monday and Tuesday. She found that Rule’s lawsuit violated a Washington state law aimed at barring lawsuits that target the legal exercise of free speech and public participation, and that Rule had not established there were any false, defamatory statements about her in the article.
The judge awarded Swart and Seattle Weekly $10,000 apiece, not including legal fees, as the state law requires.
Rule “was just clearly trying to silence her critics,” Swart’s attorney, Christopher Blattner, said Wednesday.
Bremner said the legal battle may not be over yet. “We are considering now whether it will be a request for reconsideration and expedited appeal a standard appeal,” she said.
The lawsuit came amid a long-running feud precipitated by “Heart Full of Lies,” Rule’s book about Northon.
Northon argued that she was a battered spouse and that she shot her husband, pilot Chris Northon, during a camping trip in eastern Oregon in 2000 to protect herself and her children. But Rule’s book “Heart Full of Lies” suggested Liysa Northon had long planned the killing and faked evidence of abuse to cover up her real motive: collecting insurance money and other benefits.
Liysa Northon pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was released in 2012. She married Swart in prison in 2011. The Seattle Weekly’s then-editor, Caleb Hannan, said he didn’t learn until after the article was published that Swart and Northon were engaged.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
