Three current and former Republican lawmakers are off the hook from owing $75,000 in legal fees in a losing defamation case filed against former Democratic state Rep. Charlene Fernandez. The state Court of Appeals reversed a previous ruling.
The new ruling comes after the state Supreme Court ordered the appellate panel to readdress the lawsuit, granting more freedom for attorneys in political cases.
Mark Finchem, Anthony Kern and Congressman Paul Gosar had claimed a letter Fernandez signed asking the FBI to investigate their ties to the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection amounted to defamation.
Fernandez successfully argued reports to law enforcement are exempt from such lawsuits.
The appellate panel now says Finchem, Kern and Gosar were not frivolous in filing the lawsuit, as it raised “fairly debatable” questions for whether her letter was actually protected.
That's because the law Fernandez cited in her defense did not pertain to someone who was not an in-person witness to a crime.
