Media outlets including the Los Angeles Times, ABC 7, Fox 11, NBC 4, the Los Angeles Daily News, and Pasadena Now highlighted the anti-SLAPP motion filed by civil rights firm Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai LLP with co-counsel from the UC Irvine School of Law’s Press Freedom Project and the Law Office of Colleen Flynn on behalf of journalist Ben Camacho to dismiss the City of Los Angeles’ lawsuit against him. The articles explain that the City of Los Angeles is suing Mr. Camacho for the return of over 9,000 photographs, names, and serial numbers of Los Angeles Police Department officers the City provided to Mr. Camacho. The Los Angeles Times reports that “Legal experts uniformly rejected the lawsuit as baseless and ripe for dismissal on 1st Amendment grounds and other well-established legal protections for journalists.” Fox 11 quoted HSRD attorney Dan Stormer, “The real motives behind this lawsuit are to shield the Los Angeles Police Department from any measure of accountability and transparency.”
- The Los Angeles Times article, entitled Journalist Seeks Dismissal of Lawsuit over Photos of LAPD Officers, is available here (https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-04-18/journalist-seeks-dismissal-of-lawsuit-over-photos-of-lapd-officers)
- The ABC 7 story, entitled Battle Over Photos, Job-Related Information of LAPD Officers Continues to Generate New Litigation, is available here (https://abc7.com/los-angeles-police-officers-new-court-action-2023-updates-on-photos-released-lapd-claims/13152435/)
- The Fox 11 story, entitled LA Journalist Files Anti-SLAPP Motion Against City, Citing First Amendment Rights, is available here (https://www.foxla.com/news/journalist-ben-camacho-files-anti-slapp-against-la-city-citing-first-amendment-rights)
- The NBC 4 story, entitled Reporter Asks Court to Dismiss LA City Lawsuit Over Police Photo Release, is available here (https://www.nbclosangeles.com/investigations/knock-la-reporter-la-city-lawsuit-lapd-police-photo-release/3137104/)
- The Los Angeles Daily News article, entitled Journalist Asks Court to Dismiss Lawsuit Over Released LAPD Public Records, is available here (https://www.dailynews.com/2023/04/18/journalist-asks-court-to-dismiss-lawsuit-over-released-lapd-public-records/)
- The Pasadena Now article, entitled Pasadena Law Firm Seeks Dismissal of LAPD’s Lawsuit Over Publication of Officer Information, is available here (https://www.pasadenanow.com/main/pasadena-law-firm-seeks-dismissal-of-lapds-lawsuit-over-publication-of-officer-information)