Olson v. Brodkorb [1]

Michael Brodkorb runs the blog, "Minnesota Democrats Exposted" (MDE), which is dedicated to discussing of the activities, statements, and tactics of Minnesota democrats. On December 28, 2005, MDE reported that Hubert Humphrey, a Senior Counselor for New Communications, Inc., a public relations firm owned by Blois Olson, approached the Colleen Rowley campaign for United States Congress and offered to do consulting work for the campaign, but was rebuffed. Olson emailed MDE asserting that the report was false and that, if Humphrey had approached the Rowley campaign, it was before he started working for New Communications. Olson demanded a retraction and threatened legal action.

In January 2006, Olson and New School Communications sued Brodkorb and MDE for defamation. Brodkorb moved to dismiss, claiming that the lawsuit was a SLAPP. The court denied the motion to dismiss, holding that the Minnesota SLAPP statute applies to speech aimed at obtaining favorable government action and that this was not MDE's purpose. See New School Commc'n v. Brodkorb [2], CX-06-006432, slip op., at 4 (Minn. Dist. Ct., 1st Dist., June 2, 2006). Subsequently, the court granted Brodkorb's motion for summary judgment, holding that there was no triable issue of fact on actual malice because Brodkorb had followed sound journalistic practices in covering the story, including confirming with multiple sources. New School Commc'n v. Brodkorb [3], CX-06-006432, slip op., at 3-4 (Minn. Dist. Ct., 1st Dist., Mar. 6, 2007).