SAN JOSE, Calif. (Legal Newsline) – A California appellate court ruled that a lower court erred in setting the amount of attorneys' fees in a suit involving a Florida-based school safety consultant who allegedly was defamed on social media after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Justice Allison Danner, on the bench of the California 6th District Court of Appeals, issued a 31-page ruling on Nov. 20 reversing part of the Santa Clara County Superior Court decision in the lawsuit filed by Wolfgang Halbig against John/Jane Roe.
Danner reversed the amount that was awarded to Roe's attorneys, stating that "because we cannot determine how the trial court arrived at the attorney’s fees it awarded, we cannot assess whether the trial court properly exercised its discretion."
However, Danner wrote that she was upholding the trial court's determination that Roe was the prevailing party.
Halbig sued five John Doe defendants regarding comments made on websites and social media after the December 2012 shooting. As a school safety expert, Halbig began an investigation on the Sandy Hook shooting as he was concerned about "anomalies" in the investigation and set up an organization called Sandy Hook Justice.
After setting up a donation account for the organization in 2014, Halbig raised more than $31,000 for Sandy Hook Justice through GoFundMe.
As stated in the ruling, "in October 2014, GoFundMe told Halbig that, 'after a careful investigation of the numerous complaints we’ve received about your campaign, we have determined that you will no longer be able to use GoFundMe,'" leading Halbig to believe that "GoFundMe had canceled his Sandy Hook Justice campaign because of a letter that GoFundMe had received from the Sandy Hook Defense Group.'"
"After further investigation, Halbig discovered 'defamatory posts' about himself on a number of websites and social media sites," Danner wrote.
On Jan. 28, 2015, Halbig filed the suit at the circuit court in Seminole, Florida alleging defamation, tortious interference with prospective business relationships and civil conspiracy to commit defamation.
Subpoenas were issued to check the identity of the comments' authors, but Roe filed a motion to quash the suit, which was granted on grounds that Halbig, per the ruling, "could not establish a prima facie case under Florida law."
Roe also sought costs and attorney's fees, totaling $21,874 and $700, respectively.
After Roe refused a deal that both parties would bear fees and costs in exchange for subpoena withdrawal, Halbig filed a request for dismissal of the subpoena in July 2015.
The trial court eventually granted $22,000 in fees and $495 in costs to Roe.
California 6th District Court of Appeal case number H043248