Two years after a paramilitary group that provides security at far-right rallies sued former U.S. Rep. Denver Riggleman over claims the group was involved in the 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol, both sides are still awaiting a Nelson County judge’s ruling on next steps.
Judge Michael Doucette heard arguments in Nelson County Circuit Court from attorneys Jan. 17 on pretrial motions in the suit against Riggleman, who represented Virginia’s 5th Congressional District from 2019 until 2021. Riggleman’s co-defendants in the trial are Macmillan Publishing and Henry Holt & Company, who produced the onetime representative’s book “The Breach: The Untold Story of the Investigation into January 6.”
Another hearing was held on Oct. 30, according to court records.
The lawsuit was filed in December 2022 on behalf of 1st Amendment Praetorian, or 1AP, a Delaware-based business founded in 2020 and linked to the American far-right. 1AP says on its website its goal is to “protect the Republic and anyone who is willing to stand up on her behalf to voice their opinion or bring attention to something they’ve found, like voter fraud.”
The business claims in its lawsuit that it did not engage in violence or play any role in the events of Jan. 6, 2021, when hundreds of supporters of former and future President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building with the aim of preventing the certification of the election Trump lost to President Joe Biden. Riggleman “printed egregious lies” and cites “false statements, defamatory implications and insulting words” in his book, according to 1AP’s suit.
1AP is seeking $50 million in compensatory damages, $350,000 in punitive damages and permanent injunctive relief and is demanding a jury trial, according to court documents.
Riggleman, who resides in Nelson County and is the owner of Silverback Distillery, served as a technical adviser to the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack while he was in Congress.
Riggleman and his publishers have stood by the book.
Elizabeth McNamara, an attorney representing Macmillan, said at the Jan. 17 hearing that Riggleman relied on congressional records and documents that were “privileged” — suggesting 1AP would know nothing of them.
Brady Nicks, Riggleman’s attorney, wrote in a February 2023 motion to dismiss that the case should not move forward in state court because it does not satisfy basic jurisdiction requirements. McNamara also has argued in favor of dismissing the suit for lack of jurisdiction in Nelson County and Virginia.
Jason Greaves, representing 1AP, said at the January pretrial motions hearing that 1AP’s reputation in Virginia was at stake and therefore a court in the commonwealth was fitting.
Greaves mentioned at the Jan. 17 hearing the defamation suit of actor Johnny Depp, who sued his ex-wife and actress Amber Heard in Fairfax County Circuit Court in a highly publicized, three-month jury trial in 2022, in arguing legal reasons for the trial to be held in Virginia.
In a Nov. 6 filing supplementing his motion to dismiss, Nicks wrote that 1AP’s motion filed Oct. 30 mischaracterized Riggleman’s book as a report on the congressional investigation into 1AP because it asserted nonprivileged statements of fact that the plaintiff directly engaged in violence. Hicks wrote in a brief that argument fails in part because any fair reading of the book considers the allegedly defamatory statements in context make clear Riggleman was reporting on Congress’ then-ongoing investigation into 1AP.
Hicks wrote, “There can be no serious dispute that the fair report privilege applies to the Book’s reporting about IAP’s role in an official Congressional investigation.” He also argues 1AP failed to identify any inaccuracies in the book’s reporting that might abrogate privilege.
That privilege protects defendants’ “accurate summary of the then-ongoing investigation regardless of whether Congress’ suspicions” about 1AP’s “role” in the attack were true or false.
A Nov. 5 brief from Greaves counters that Riggleman and his publishers “have attempted to rewrite Mr. Riggleman’s statements to escape liability.”
“He did not say that 1AP was under investigation for potentially being involved in violence; he stated unambiguously that they were in fact involved in violence and rioting on Jan. 6,” reads Greaves’ Nov. 5 court filing.
Greaves has asked the judge to overrule the motion to dismiss.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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