From Landino v. Mass. Teachers Ass'n, decided today by Judge Denise Casper (D. Mass.), the undisputed facts:
The MTA is a state affiliate of the National Education Association ("NEA"), a national labor union.
Established in 2011, Project Veritas is a non-profit conservative media outlet that conducts "undercover reporting" concerning "subjects that impact democratic interests," PV has long-standing history of public disputes with teachers' unions. Landino's responsibilities while employed by PV included fundraising, hiring, paying bills and managing staff. Prior to working at PV, Landino was convicted of felony narcotics possession in Connecticut.
On March 7, 2014, Gawker published an article about PV titled "James O'Keefe Employs a Convicted Felon," while Landino remained COO [Chief Operating Officer] at PV. The article states that Landino was "active in making fundraising queries and pitching sting ideas, introducing himself as the group's chief operating officer." Gawker reported, among other things, that Landino had a "felony narcotics record, thousands of dollars in unpaid child support and tens of thousands of dollars in IRS tax liens." Landino was subsequently fired by PV on March 31, 2014. Approximately two years later, in 2016, Landino received a pardon for his felony conviction. Thereafter, Landino contacted one of the authors of the Gawker article requesting a correction to reflect that Landino had since been pardoned.
The website Project Veritas Exposed ("PVE") posts content related to PV. In or around June 2018, PVE posted a profile to its site about Landino, identifying him as the COO of PV from 2013 to 2014 and quoting the 2014 Gawker article regarding Landino's criminal history, tax liens and unpaid child support. The profile includes an update that Landino was pardoned in May 2016. PVE is not an MTA website and MTA does not control it.
