Friends of Pine Meadow offer open letter

Friends and neighbors,

The lawsuit brought against us by DeNova Homes, Christine Dean and Civic Martinez, LLC has been identified by our lawyers as a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) suit. The sole intent of this suit is to intimidate us and scare us and the rest of the public into silence.

Last Friday we filed an anti-SLAPP motion to squash their suit. First Amendment rights to free speech will not be abridged.

Abuse of the judicial process. The law says that “it is in the public interest to encourage continued participation in matters of public significance, and that this participation should not be chilled through abuse of the judicial process.” Recognizing that the cost in dollars and time and effort of having to defend against even a merit-less action is great enough to intimidate most citizens into silence, the law lets us find quick relief to SLAPP suits with most costs of our legal defense having to be paid by the plaintiffs.

Clear message to Plaintiffs. Our anti-SLAPP suit motion sends a clear message to Plaintiffs, and others who might think of using this scare tactic, that this kind of intimidation and abuse of the judicial process will not be tolerated. And it will not stifle our use of the power of free speech.

The hearing on our anti-SLAPP suit motion will be June 15. But even without a judge’s decision, we felt it imperative to speak out now against this SLAPP suit to try to stop the damage it has caused to the public’s right to speak. (See a copy of our motion and the lawsuit on our website: http://www.friendsofpinemeadow.org.)

Public fearing to speak. This SLAPP suit against us is about much more than Pine Meadow, which has been designated Permanent Open Space/Recreation for over 40 years, and our efforts to convince our mayor and City Council to protect our open space, not turn it into housing.

The right to speak freely is a true cornerstone of our democracy. The plaintiffs’ use of this baseless lawsuit is aimed to quell public speech and chill public discourse.

According to Stu Flashman, lawyer for Friends of Pine Meadow: “The entire purpose of this kind of suit is to punish people for participating in the political process … Those involved in filing it ought to be ashamed of themselves.”

It has, from personal knowledge, scared some of our supporters into not acting to oppose the plaintiffs’ development plans. But, much worse, this SLAPP suit has cast a pall over the public in general with people fearing to speak up on issues of importance for fear of the possibility of being sued, as we have been.

Reminiscent of a third world country. This SLAPP suit is an abhorrent act reminiscent of the actions one might expect in a third world country that does not have the basic rights of a democracy. We believe its effect on the public overall is the biggest damage this lawsuit has caused.

We must not let the fear of a suit like this scare us into not speaking our minds. We must do the opposite. Do not let these people and others like them win by keeping us quiet.

We must let a suit like this propel us into speaking out against such bullying tactics and for the basic right of free speech.

Public discussion of our government, our politics, important social issues, and other issues facing us is critical, especially in these times of great controversy and change.

The voices of the people are slowly being abridged by the lack of news media and its control by large private interests. We must not let it be eroded further by the scare tactics of SLAPP suits like this.

Stand up for our democracy and Free Speech by standing up for yourself, and speaking your piece.

We urge all who have been intimidated by this SLAPP suit, or the threat of one from other powerful interests, to step forward and denounce this tactic, and speak up once again.

Call to Action: 1. Contact the Martinez City Council and demand a clear and VERY public explanation of what our Free Speech rights are when speaking before them.

2. Pass this letter on to others – we cannot depend on the media to spread the word that we do not have to be intimidated or fearful of speaking out.

– Tim Platt and Mark Thomson for Friends of Pine Meadow