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Back in 2006, when Donald Trump was known as a media personality, not a politician, Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against New York Times reporter Timothy O’Brien over O’Brien’s claim that Trump was not a billionaire.  Trump ultimately lost the case.  When asked about the lawsuit years later, Trump said, “”I spent a couple of bucks on legal fees, and they spent a whole lot more,” Trump said.  “I did it to make his life miserable, which I’m happy about.”  That kind of legal action, intended to harass or intimidate, rather than uphold a legal principle, is so common, it has a name: “strategic lawsuit against public participation,” or “SLAPP.”  Wisconsin is one of sixteen states that has no legislation to discourage SLAPP lawsuits, and Wisconsin Watch Managing Editor and member of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council Jim Malewitz thinks it’s time to change that.

The post Wisconsin Journalists Vulnerable to Frivolous Lawsuits appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.