American Muckrakers PAC, Inc. v. Boebert (D. Colo. June 9, 2024) (just recently posted on Westlaw) stemmed from the PAC and journalist David Wheeler making various allegations about Rep. Lauren Boebert. Rep. Boebert said they were all lies, threatened to sue Wheeler (which she did), and also "threatened donors to Plaintiff American Muckrakers PAC, Inc., in a … statement to the media," saying "Muckrakers' sloppy, reckless, and wildly irresponsible actions have created substantial legal liability for Muckrakers, David Wheeler in his personal capacity, and each donor to the organization who chose to fund the effort knowing it would result in defamation."
The PAC and Wheeler sued for various torts, including defamation (based on Boebert's claims that plaintiffs had been lying) and interference with contract and prospective advantage. Magistrate Judge Kathryn Starnella recommended that the defamation claims be dismissed under the Colorado anti-SLAPP statutes, on the grounds that plaintiffs hadn't introduced enough evidence that Boebert knew that her allegations of Wheeler's lying were false or likely false ("actual malice"); for more on that, see the opinion itself.
But the Magistrate Judge recommended that the tortious interference claim based on the threats of litigation against the donors be allowed to go forward, reasoning:
