SEATTLE — A defamation lawsuit filed by two Seattle police officers against Councilmember Kshama Sawant was dismissed by a federal judge Thursday, after five years in court.
In 2016, Sawant publicly called the Seattle police killing of Che Taylor a “brutal … and blatant murder at the hands of police” during a rally five days after the shooting, as well as making several subsequent comments while advocating for police reform. Officers Scott Miller and Michael Spaulding, who fatally shot Taylor while performing surveillance outside of his Wedgwood home, then sued Sawant for defamation over the comments.
The lawsuit against Sawant, originally claiming that she violated federal and state defamation and outrage laws, has been tied up in courts since 2017, was dismissed and twice made it to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, before the merit judgment was submitted Thursday.
In that summary judgment, U.S. District Court Judge Marsha Pechman said the two officers failed to establish that Sawant’s opinion was not protected speech, that it was false or that it was malicious. To meet defamation criteria, they would have to prove all three.
“Each of these findings separately and independently support entry of summary judgment in Sawant’s favor on Plaintiffs’ claims,” Pechman wrote, agreeing with a motion by Sawant to dismiss the case before it went to trial. “The Court’s ruling makes a trial and any further proceedings unnecessary.”
Attorneys representing Sawant said that the opinion was not only fair, but important in upholding the rights of people, including elected officials, to criticize law enforcement.
“The judge said that that was protected opinion, and even if it wasn’t protected opinion, that the plaintiffs had not proven was false, and they certainly hadn’t proven any known falsehoods or reckless falsehoods by the council member. So I think it’s a very strong opinion,” said Darin Dalmat, an attorney with Barnard Iglitzin & Lavitt LLP.
Dalmat said Sawant’s advocacy for police reform following Taylor’s killing is rightfully protected by the judgment.
“So in addition to being legally correct, I think that Judge Pechman’s order properly took account of that history and situated it in an important historical moment,” Dalmat added.
The officers could appeal Pechman’s decision, but Dalmat said he’s confident the appeals court would uphold the sweeping dismissal.
Counsel for the officers did not return requests for comment on Thursday.
