Oregon Court of Appeals Dismisses Lawsuit Against Rep. Andrea Salinas
In a significant ruling issued on January 29th, the Oregon Court of Appeals reversed a lower court's decision and dismissed a defamation lawsuit by Republican congressional candidate Mike Erickson against U.S. Representative Andrea Salinas and her campaign. Erickson’s lawsuit involved a campaign advertisement aired by the Salinas campaign during the 2022 congressional race for Oregon's Sixth Congressional District.
Elias Law Group attorneys representing Rep. Salinas and her campaign successfully filed an anti-SLAPP motion, eventually resulting in the dismissal of Erickson’s case after this week’s ruling from the Oregon Court of Appeals.
The Court of Appeals found that the advertisement in question, which raised Erickson’s 2016 arrest, could be “reasonably understood to be factually correct” and therefore did not violate state law.
"This decision reinforces important protections for political speech in Oregon," said Elias Law Group partner Ben Stafford, who argued the case for the appellants. "The Court correctly recognized that campaign statements that can be reasonably interpreted as factually accurate are protected under Oregon law. We are proud to defend Representative Salinas against these baseless allegations by her former political opponent."
Elias Law Group partners Ben Stafford and Abha Khanna contributed to this case.
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