Circuit Court of Appeals, supporting Retzlaff’s anti-SLAPP claim.
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When the trial court judge ruled that Texas’ anti-SLAPP law doesn’t apply to cases in federal courts, 40 media companies joined forces to file a friend-of-the-court brief in the 5th U.S. Both men have weaponized the courts, but their fight is more than just troll versus troll it has wider implications for everyone's First Amendment rights.īecause Retzlaff lives in Arizona and Van Dyke in Texas, the latter’s defamation case is being heard in federal court, but under Texas law. Van Dyke's defamation case pits himself, a lawyer with a history of threatening media outlets for reporting about the Proud Boys, against Retzlaff, a guy with an independent income, a lawyer on retainer and a willingness to sue anyone who crosses him. District Court in Sherman and is on appeal. Retzlaff's motion to dismiss Van Dyke’s defamation claim under the act was denied in U.S. Under the Texas Citizens Participation Act, targets of a SLAPP suit can file a motion to quickly dismiss the suit and recover legal fees from their opponent. SLAPP suits - an acronym for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation - are meritless lawsuits individuals and corporations file to silence critics by tying them up with costly litigation. One Texas court labeled him a “vexatious litigant” for filing numerous frivolous lawsuits, though that didn’t stop him from filing an anti-SLAPP motion in response to Van Dyke's defamation lawsuit. He spent six years in a Texas prison for carrying a prohibited weapon on elementary school grounds. Retzlaff has tangled with law enforcement himself. Retzlaff denies writing the letter and says Van Dyke was fired for violating the law firm’s social media policy. It was the first time I had been asked to apologize for being a straight white male." – Jason Lee Van Dyke tweet this Van Dyke sought $100 million in damages. This guy has been working for you for a very long time and I am shocked that nothing has been done. Plus, he has a criminal record for assaulting women! I thought that I would contact management before I go to Facebook and Twitter and blast this out all over the world. The guy is literally threatening to MURDER people who get into disagreements with him!!! This absolutely no joke and when I say the dude is a white supremacist/Nazi, that is what he really is. “To whom can I report an employee who is responsible for creating a very hostile work environment with regards to open racism, posting death threats on social media, and claims to be a Nazi. He claims Retzlaff used the pseudonym “Dean Anderson” when he sent the firm a poisonous email that read: Van Dyke blames Retzlaff for torpedoing the job with a Plano law firm. On this afternoon in early January, Kristin Brady, assistant disciplinary counsel for the State Bar, told the court that she'd been investigating a grievance filed by Retzlaff, whom Van Dyke sued for defamation in March 2018, a day after he lost another job.
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Perhaps greatest of all is his fury at Thomas Retzlaff, the Phoenix man who has dogged Van Dyke’s heels, costing him jobs and filing professional grievances aimed at ending Van Dyke's legal career. Meanwhile, he had been picking up his own bad headlines: “Prominent Lawyer Jumps Bail And Becomes A Fugitive,” “Former Proud Boy's trial canceled after witness disappears,” “Proud Boys Lawyer Jason Lee Van Dyke Suspended by Texas Bar.” When he was the Proud Boys’ lawyer, Van Dyke’s mission was to sue or threaten to sue journalists who called his client a hate group.
He’s pissed at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which calls the Proud Boys a hate group, though they say that’s not true. As a proud, straight white man, he’s angry at the liberal activists who he believes are shaming guys like them for just existing. Online, he has a habit of exploding with anger, and as the former attorney for the far-right, all-male organization Proud Boys, he has plenty to be angry at. Jason Lee Van Dyke sat at a table next to his defense lawyer in a Denton County courtroom, listening as an attorney for the Texas State Bar spoke about how fearful she was when she received his email message threatening her life.Īt 38, Van Dyke is stocky like a pit bull yet mild-mannered like Clark Kent - in person, that is.