Settlement reached in lawsuit over comments on Review-Journal website
A settlement has been reached in a defamation case filed by two lawyers against an anonymous attorney over a comment posted on the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s website.
Former Chief Deputy District Attorney Mary Brown and her husband, defense attorney and former prosecutor Phil Brown, filed the lawsuit in 2012 against the anonymous commenter. The Review-Journal was not a party to the litigation.
The couple tried unsuccessfully to learn the defendant’s identity during the litigation.
Attorney Peter Chasey, who represents the anonymous commenter known only as “Lawyer,” said the Browns accepted an offer of judgment last week. He said he was not authorized to disclose the amount of the judgment.
“Hopefully this is water under the bridge, and the Browns and my client can move on,” Chasey said Monday.
He said the settlement renders a Nevada Supreme Court decision, which was filed Friday in the case, moot.
The high court’s order, which identifies the commenter as “John or Jane Doe,” upheld the decision of District Judge Gloria Sturman, who denied the commenter’s motion to dismiss the case.
Mary Brown declined to comment Monday and referred a reporter to the couple’s lawyer, Gregory Denue, who could not be reached.
The anonymous commenter sought to dismiss the case under Nevada’s anti-SLAPP statute, which is designed to protect people who speak out on public issues from facing frivolous lawsuits. SLAPP is an acronym that stands for strategic lawsuit against public participation.
In its recent order, the Supreme Court concluded “that Doe’s comments were not made in direct connection with any issue under consideration by any governmental body, or in connection with any other official legal proceeding.”
Chasey said the order would have allowed the case to go forward but did not make a determination about whether his client’s comment stepped “over the line.”
The defamation case stemmed from an anonymous comment that claimed Mary Brown “had sexual relations in order to get promoted.” The Browns argued that the comment was false and harmed their reputations.
According to the lawsuit, the online comment appeared five times under four news stories that detailed accusations of an inappropriate relationship between then-Family Court Judge Steven Jones and former prosecutor Lisa Willardson.
Mary Brown, who headed the juvenile division of the district attorney’s office until she resigned in April 2012, was one of Willardson’s supervisors. Willardson was fired in December 2011.
In December 2013, the Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission found that Jones had committed misconduct by maintaining a romantic relationship with Willardson while she appeared in cases before him. The panel later suspended Jones without pay for three months.
Two days after the commission’s decision was made public, Jones found Willardson’s body at her Henderson home, and the coroner later concluded she died of an accidental drug overdose.
In February, Jones was sentenced to 26 months in prison for his conviction in a federal fraud case. He has been permanently disbarred.
The commenter known as “Lawyer” argued during the litigation that disclosure of his or her identity would effectively ruin his or her legal career.
Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710. Find her on Twitter: @CarriGeer
