McClatchy, the newspaper publishing company based in Sacramento that is being targeted in a lawsuit by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), has filed a motion with a state judge in Virginia asking for the case to be thrown out, according to Nunes' McClatchy-owned hometown newspaper, the Fresno Bee.
Ted Boutros, the attorney for McClatchy, argued that a case involving a California congressman suing a California publishing firm has no reason to be in a Virginia court. "Put simply, this case is Virginia-less."
The lawsuit, which McClatchy has denounced as a "baseless attack on local journalism," is one of several Nunes has brought against various activists and media companies who have criticized him, including CNN, Democratic activists, a political research firm that partnered with Hillary Clinton, and the owner of the satirical Twitter accounts "Devin Nunes' Cow" and "Devin Nunes' Mom."
The McClatchy suit stems from a report in the Fresno Bee about a lawsuit filed by an employee of a winery Nunes is invested in, who alleged that a charity yacht cruise held by the winery featured cocaine and prostitutes. How many of these lawsuits are being financed remains a mystery.
California has among the nation's strictest code of what are known as "anti-SLAPP laws," which allow defendants to sanction and recover court costs from plaintiffs if they file a frivolous suit for the express purpose of making people scared to engage in free speech against them. Virginia's anti-SLAPP statutes, by comparison, are weaker.
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