Social media comments made by Lake Tahoe bear activists that identifies a longtime wildlife biologist as a murderer was considered as a "good faith communications" and protected as free speech, according to the Nevada Supreme Court.
The Reno Gazette Journal reported that the opinion doesn't end a lawsuit filed in Washoe County District Court in Reno, but it settles a key legal question in the dispute between Carl Lackey, a Nevada Department of Wildlife biologist, and Carolyn Stark, who administers a Facebook page that posts criticism of the state's bear control tactics.
The lawsuit is the latest development in a years long legal and public relations battle between the agency and a group of activists who oppose state methods for managing bears.
In 2018, a judge issued a protective order to keep Stark, who lives in the community of Incline Village, away from another state biologist who says Stark stalked her in a dispute over the capture of nuisance bears.
The high court's opinion is a victory for Stark, who argued she was being unjustly targeted for her activism, and a setback for Lackey, who claims harm from the hostile posts.
"It is a free speech friendly ruling," Patrick File, an assistant professor of media law at University of Nevada, Reno, told the newspaper.
Lackey, the state's point person dealing with conflicts between bears and people, filed a defamation lawsuit in 2017 against Stark, the Bear League activist group and two others. It accused them of mounting a "vicious and calculated effort to damage his reputation and jeopardize his employment."
Although the named defendants didn't necessarily write the Facebook posts, Lackey argued they're ultimately responsible for repeated comments that are false and "designed to incite public rage."
Lackey long has blamed humans, not the bears, for the conflicts usually traced to people who fail to properly secure their garbage. For years, he's pushed unsuccessfully for ordinances mandating bear-proof trash bins to guard against the animals, which sometimes break into cars and homes — especially during drought years — to satisfy their daily caloric intake equivalent to 80 cheeseburgers.
Some of the Facebook posts were anonymous, but most carried names. The most inflammatory accused Lackey of "murdering" bears and suggested it was "maybe time for an assassination." One posted Lackey's home address and said he should be jailed.
The Reno Gazette Journal reported that the opinion doesn't end a lawsuit filed in Washoe County District Court in Reno, but it settles a key legal question in the dispute between Carl Lackey, a Nevada Department of Wildlife biologist, and Carolyn Stark, who administers a Facebook page that posts criticism of the state's bear control tactics.
The lawsuit is the latest development in a years long legal and public relations battle between the agency and a group of activists who oppose state methods for managing bears.
In 2018, a judge issued a protective order to keep Stark, who lives in the community of Incline Village, away from another state biologist who says Stark stalked her in a dispute over the capture of nuisance bears.
The high court's opinion is a victory for Stark, who argued she was being unjustly targeted for her activism, and a setback for Lackey, who claims harm from the hostile posts.
"It is a free speech friendly ruling," Patrick File, an assistant professor of media law at University of Nevada, Reno, told the newspaper.
Lackey, the state's point person dealing with conflicts between bears and people, filed a defamation lawsuit in 2017 against Stark, the Bear League activist group and two others. It accused them of mounting a "vicious and calculated effort to damage his reputation and jeopardize his employment."
Although the named defendants didn't necessarily write the Facebook posts, Lackey argued they're ultimately responsible for repeated comments that are false and "designed to incite public rage."
Lackey long has blamed humans, not the bears, for the conflicts usually traced to people who fail to properly secure their garbage. For years, he's pushed unsuccessfully for ordinances mandating bear-proof trash bins to guard against the animals, which sometimes break into cars and homes — especially during drought years — to satisfy their daily caloric intake equivalent to 80 cheeseburgers.
Some of the Facebook posts were anonymous, but most carried names. The most inflammatory accused Lackey of "murdering" bears and suggested it was "maybe time for an assassination." One posted Lackey's home address and said he should be jailed.
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