I have received a "cease and desist" letter from a law firm, threatening me with a defamation lawsuit over my reporting here at Legal Schnauzer on various scandals swirling around the Alabama A&M University campus in Huntsville, including the school's failure to demand payment of a $527-million debt the U.S. Departments of Education and Agriculture says it is owed by the state of Alabama as a result of chronic underfunding over roughly a 30-year period.
The letter I received is dated Dec. 21, 2023, the same date as a letter sent to attorney and online investigative journalist Donald Watkins. The Maynard Nexsen law firm, which has an office in Birmingham, sent both letters, and the contents appear to be identical. The letters indicate the firm is representing Alabama A&M as an institution and several of its unidentified employees.
Watkins' response to the MaynardNexsen letter can be read by clicking here.Theissues he raises appear to also apply to me. Here are several key issues Watkins raises in his response:
* I understand from your letter that your law firm represents Alabama A&M
University, a public institution, and President Daniel K. Wims. You also claim to
be representing other Alabama A&M Parties, but you did not specify who these
parties are.
* Does your law firm represent President Wims in his official capacity only,
or do you also represent Dr. Wims in his personal capacity for the purpose of filing a
state-law tort claim for alleged defamation?
* Also, please identify the other Alabama A&M Parties your firm represents
and provide me with each person’s job title. If these individuals are “managing or
general agents” of Alabama A&M (within the Federal/Alabama Rules of Civil
Procedure and Evidence), please specify this status, as well. With respect to any “managing or general agent” among the Alabama A&M Parties, please tell me whether your firm represents this individual in his/her official capacity only, or whether you represents these individuals for the purpose of filing tort claims for alleged defamation.
* Your letter claims that my published editorial opinions regarding the
Alabama A&M Parties are false and defamatory. You have demanded that I retract
all of my editorial opinions about the Alabama A&M parties and cease publishing
future articles about the university and its public officials.
* So that you know, I have posted more than two dozen editorial opinions on
matters of significant public interest about Alabama A&M University since
September 19, 2023. Your letter treats these editorial opinions as a group of
articles, as opposed to separate and distinct publications. To this extent, your
“Demand for a Retraction” is defective.
* I am requesting that you cure this defect by providing me with the following
information so that I can properly evaluate your purported defamation claims, as
well as your demand for a retraction:
1. Please identify each statement the Alabama A&M Parties claim was
defamatory and provide: (a) the exact statement referenced, (b) the title of
the article in which the statement appears, (c) the date of the article’s
publication, (d) the name and title of the Alabama A&M Party who claims
he/she was defamed by this statement.
* In the event your client(s) move forward with litigation, I plan to file a
counterclaim against Alabama A&M University for infringing upon my First
Amendment rights and avail myself of other legal rights afforded to me under
California law. This letter places the Alabama A&M Parties on notice to affirmatively
preserve, and not delete, any and all physical and electronic documents, materials,
information, and data.
* [Please include] all documents relating to the Alabama A&M Parties and their interaction
with Kenneth Boswell, Steve Flowers, Josh Moon, Bill Britt, Yellowhammer
News, Alabama Power Company, Gov. Kay Ivey, U.S. Senator Tommy
Tuberville, State Senator Sam Givhan, Congresswomen Terri Sewell, State
Representative Anthony Daniels, State Senator Bobby Singleton,
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, and Trustees Ralph Williams, Kevin
Ball, Tiffany Johnson Cole, and Roderick D. Watts.
* Your “Cease and Desist” letter seeks to remove posted articles and stop the
publication of future articles regarding the Alabama A&M parties. I have found no
federal or state case or statute that supports the proposition that a public university
can sue for defamation for itself and for its public officials/managing agents.
Furthermore, I stand by the truth of the statements contained in the cache of
editorial opinions referenced in your letter, as well as my First Amendment right to
express such opinions.
* I look forward to receiving the information requested in this letter. It will
assist me in determining: (a) whether the unspecified Alabama A&M parties are
due a correction and/or retraction, and (b) whether a proper demand for a retraction
has been made by the appropriate counsel for public officials/managing agents who
seek to bring personal defamation claims in a First Amendment case involving their
principal/public employer.
