Palm Beach Post
Monday, September 11, 2000

Twice during the 1990s, the Legislature considered bills to keep companies from using lawsuits to intimidate critics. Both attempts failed. A lawsuit in St. Lucie County shows why the state still needs the legislation.

There is a controversial proposal to build a toll bridge across the Indian River Lagoon from the northern end of Hutchinson Island. The proposal is controversial for two reasons. First, there is no need for the bridge. Residents of Port St. Lucie on the mainland side can get to the beach on free bridges. It is not necessary for evacuation in case of problems at Florida Power & Light's Hutchinson Island nuclear reactors because existing bridges could handle the traffic. And it would not pay for itself, based on projected costs and tolls. Second, construction of the bridge would damage sea grasses in the lagoon, a fragile estuary, and run through the Savannas wetlands, an environmentally sensitive freshwater marsh.

The chief supporters are the St. Lucie Expressway & Bridge Authority, state Rep. Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, and the Port St. Lucie City Council. Residents are opposed and have made that opposition known through protests and other methods. Last week, Tallahassee-based Figg Bridge Engineers, a consultant to the authority, filed suit against four critics, alleging they made false statements about the company. It looks very much like what is known as a SLAPP suit, for "strategic lawsuits against public participation."

Figg's attorney Harold Melville denies it's a SLAPP suit, but he wants the four individuals to stop saying bad things about Figg, apologize and pay Figg damages for lost business. Though Mr. Melville said Figg has "suffered financial injury," he could not give an example of a contract the company has lost or financial damage it has suffered.

The lawsuit accuses Charles Grande, Ed McKay, Roger Sharp and Kevin Stinnette, all active in the "Ban the Span" group, of libel and slander for comments about Figg and its involvement in a federal grand-jury investigation into the construction of the Garcon Point bridge in Florida's Panhandle. The four, the suit alleges, made the statements in public meetings, letters to the editor and in a free newspaper delivered to Hutchinson Island residents.

Figg has cited the Garcon Point Bridge as an example of its work. In fact, the Garcon Point Bridge was just as unneeded, unwanted and expensive to taxpayers as the proposed $25 million bridge across the Indian River would be. Interestingly, Mr. Melville also handled the Treasure Coast's other SLAPP suit, in which a Palm City recycling firm sued Martin County, claiming its managed-growth majority was conspiring to stop development. The company dropped the suit a few days into the trial, after maximum news coverage of the battle between developers and preservationists, saying it didn't like the judge's rulings.

Rarely do plaintiffs admit to a SLAPP suit. But the defendants, faced with financial ruin, usually shut up and go away. It will happen until the Legislature stops it.