Adelson v. Harris

• Citation: 973 F.Supp.2d 467
• Decision Date: 30 September 2013
• Docket Number: No. 12 Civ. 6052(JPO).,12 Civ. 6052(JPO).
• Parties: Sheldon G. ADELSON, Plaintiff, v. David A. HARRIS, Marc R. Stanley, and National Jewish Democratic Council, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

973 F.Supp.2d 467

Sheldon G. ADELSON, Plaintiff,

v.David A. HARRIS, Marc R. Stanley, and National Jewish Democratic Council, Defendants.

No. 12 Civ. 6052(JPO).

United States District Court, S.D. New York.

Sept. 30, 2013.

Amy Marie Stewart, Powell Goldstein LLP, Jonathan David Grunberg, Lucian Lincoln Wood, Wood, Hernacki & Evans, LLC, L. Lin Wood, Bryan Cave LLP, Atlanta, GA, David Michael Olasov, Olasov & Hollander LLP, New York, NY, for Plaintiff.

Gayle Chatilo Sproul, Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz, LLP, Philadelphia, PA, Rachel Fan Stern Strom, Levine, Sullivan, Koch & Schulz, LLP, New York, NY, Chad Russell Bowman, Lee Levine, Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz, LLP, Seth D. Berlin, Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz, LLP, Washington, DC, for Defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER

J. PAUL OETKEN, District Judge:

This is a defamation action filed by Sheldon G. Adelson arising out of the 2012 presidential campaign. Adelson has sued David A. Harris, Marc R. Stanley, and the National Jewish Democratic Council (“NJDC”) (together, “Defendants”) for libel based on a publication on NJDC's website. Defendants have moved to dismiss this lawsuit pursuant to the District of Columbia Anti–SLAPP Act of 2010, D.C.Code § 16–5501 et seq.—or in the alternative the Nevada Anti–SLAPP Act, Nev.Rev.Stat. § 41.635 et seq.—as well as Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).

For the reasons that follow, the Court concludes (1) that Nevada law applies to this case; (2) that Adelson has failed to state a claim for libel because (a) Defendants' publication is protected as a fair report of a judicial proceeding, which was properly attributed through its use of hyperlinks, and (b) the publication otherwise consists of constitutionally protected opinion; (3) that Defendants' publication was also protected by the Nevada Anti–SLAPP statute, and accordingly Adelson is ordered to pay Defendants' attorney's fees and costs.

I. BackgroundA. Factual Background

The following facts are, unless otherwise indicated, drawn from the allegations in the Complaint ( see Dkt. No. 1 (“Compl.”)), which are presumed true for purpose of this motion.

1. The Parties

a. Sheldon Adelson

Adelson is a successful businessman and a prominent member of the Jewish Community. He is the Chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (“LVSC”), a Nevada corporation with its principal place of business in Nevada. LVSC is the owner of, among other things, the Venetian Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. LVSC has also built casinos in various other locations, including in the Chinese territory Macau.¹

During the 2012 election cycle, Adelson became a well-known supporter of Republican candidates. For much of the Republican Party presidential primary campaign, he was a highly visible financial supporter of Speaker Newt Gingrich. Later, he became a supporter of Governor Mitt Romney. Adelson also provided financial support to other Republican candidates during the 2012 election cycle.

b. NJDC, Harris, and Stanley

NJDC is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization whose mission is to increase Jewish support for Democratic candidates. NJDC's principal place of business is in the District of Columbia. (Harris Decl. at ¶ 5.) Harris is the President and CEO of NJDC, and a citizen of the District of Columbia. ( Id. at ¶ 2.) Stanley is NJDC's Chairman and a citizen of Texas. ( Id. at ¶ 3.) ²

2. Jacobs and the Jacobs lawsuit

The final individual relevant to this lawsuit is Steven C. Jacobs, a former executive at LVSC's subsidiary Sands China Limited (“SCL”), who was fired for cause in 2010. After his termination, Jacobs sued LVSC, SCL, and Adelson in District Court, Clark County, Nevada, alleging, inter alia, breach of contract. ( See Dkt. No. 20 (“Strom Decl.”), Ex. 28 (“Jacobs Amend. Compl.”).) On June 27, 2012, the afternoon before a status conference in Jacobs v. Las Vegas Sands Corp., Jacobs filed a declaration, ostensibly identifying gaps in the defendants' production regarding the issue of personal jurisdiction (“the Jacobs Declaration”). In that declaration, Jacobs averred that “LVSC Senior Executives informed me that the prior prostitution strategy had been personally approved by Adelson.” According to Adelson, Jacobs knew this statement was false when he made it.³ On July 18, 2012, LVSC and SCL filed with the Nevada court evidence to that effect. Adelson's denial of the allegations in the Jacobs Declaration was covered by the national media. ( See, e.g., Compl. Ex. F (“the WSJ Article”) (“In a filing in Nevada District Court in Las Vegas made public Wednesday, attorneys for Mr. Adelson, chief executive of Las Vegas Sands Corp., said that a former top executive of the company's operations in Macau ‘had blatantly mischaracterized the facts' when he alleged last month that Mr. Adelson had approved a ‘prostitution strategy’ at the casino operator's Macau properties.”)).

3. The Petition

On July 3, 2012, in the midst of the presidential campaign, NJDC published a statement concerning Adelson on its website (“the Petition”). ( See Compl. Ex. A (“Petition”).) The Petition, authored by Harris, was entitled “Tell Romney to Reject Adelson's Dirty Money.” It contained a graphic of Adelson and Governor Romney side by side, with the following rhetorical question written across it in large, capital letters: “IF ONE OF YOUR BIGGEST DONORS WAS ACCUSED OF PUTTING ‘FOREIGN MONEY’ FROM CHINA IN OUR ELECTIONS & REPORTEDLY APPROVED OF PROSTITUTION, WOULD YOU TAKE HIS MONEY?” Below this was a link to an online NJDC petition “TELL[ING] MITT ROMNEY TO STOP TAKING MONEY FROM SHELDON ADELSON.” Below the graphic, the Petition stated as follows:

As you saw during the Republican primaries, GOP mega-donor Sheldon Adelson dumped millions of dollars into supporting Newt Gingrich's feckless campaign. Now he's doing the same for Mitt Romney—with no plans to stop. But perhaps the most alarming aspect of Adelson's potentially unlimited contributions is where the money comes from.

It's well known that Adelson makes tremendous sums of money through his casinos in China, which—according to 2008 Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain (AZ)—means that Chinese “foreign money” (to quote McCain) is flooding our political system. But this week, reports surfaced that in addition to his anti-union and allegedly corrupt business practices,Adelson “ personally approved ” of prostitution in his Macau casinos.

Given these reports, Romney and the rest of the Republican Party must cease accepting Adelson's tainted money immediately. Sign NJDC's petition below, and click here to share the image above on Facebook to help spread the work.

Already signed? Click here to enlist your family and friends in an effort to stop the influence of Adelson's tainted money and protect our democracy.

As will be evident to those with experience navigating the Internet, each segment of blue, underlined text contained a hyperlink, which, when clicked, connected the Petition's reader to a particular article. Relevant here is the “personally approved” hyperlink, which connected the reader to an Associated Press (“AP”) article by Kevin Ritter, entitled “Sheldon Adelson Approved ‘Prostitution Strategy’: Fired Former Sands Executive,” dated June 28, 2012 (“the AP Article”). The AP Article stated in part:

In the lawsuit, [Jacobs] accuses the company and Adelson of breach of contract and of pushing him into illegal activity in Macau....

In documents revealed Thursday—including a sworn seven-page declaration that Jacobs submitted along with a summary from his attorneys of problems obtaining documents from Sand—Jacobs describes an effort he launched after arriving in Macau in May 2009 to rid the casino floor of “loan sharks and prostitution.”

“This project was met with concern as (company) senior executives informed me that the prior prostitution strategy had been personally developed and approved by Adelson,” Jacobs said in his declaration.

The AP Article also notes that “Adelson and the company deny wrongdoing,” and quotes a statement issued by LVSC spokesman Ron Reese that “Mr. Adelson has always objected to and maintained a strong policy against prostitution on our properties and any accusation to the contrary represents a blatant and reprehensible attack on Mr. Adelson's character....”

The Petition was on the NJDC website from July 3, 2012 to July 11, 2012. During that period, the Petition was republished on other websites and in the print press. For example, on July 6, 2012, the Jewish Press published an article entitled “NJDC Calls on Romney to Return ‘Adelson's Tainted Money Immediately,’ ” which quoted at length from the Petition. ( See Compl., Ex B.)

On July 11, 2012, Defendants withdrew the Petition from NJDC's website.

4. The Press Release

On July 11, 2012, NJDC published a press release, authored by Harris and Stanley, entitled “Statement Regarding NJDC's Adelson Petition” (“the Press Release”). (Compl., Ex. C (“PR”).) The Press Release was also published on NJDC's website, where it remains visible to this day. See http:// www. njdc. org/ media/ entry/ adelson 071112. The Press Release, only two paragraphs in length, reads as follows:

National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) Chair Marc R. Stanley and President and CEO David A. Harris today jointly released the following statement regarding NJDC's petition campaign concerning Sheldon Adelson:

“Regarding our recent campaign surrounding Sheldon Adelson, we don't believe we engaged in character assassination; we stand by everything we said, which was sourced from current, credible news accounts. Accusations against Mr. Adelson were made not by us, but by others, including Senator John McCain (R–AZ). Nonetheless, we regret the concern that this campaign has caused. And in the interest of shalom bayit (peace in our home / community), we are going to take down our petition today. Moving forward, we'll continue to work hard to fight against the unique threat posed by the outsized influence of certain individual...