Nevada Supreme Court to hear lawmaker’s defamation lawsuit

By Cy Ryan

Published Monday, Aug. 31, 2015 | 7:51 a.m.

Updated Monday, Aug. 31, 2015 | 1:54 p.m.

Can a politician make a false statement about his opponent in an election campaign and then claim freedom of speech when hit with a defamation suit?

The Nevada Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in the case involving Republican State Sen. Ben Kieckhefer in his suit against Gary Schmidt, his opponent in the 2014 GOP primary election.

Schmidt ran television ads accusing Kieckhefer, who represents Reno, of endorsing Democrat Sen. Harry Reid for re-election in 2010 over Republican Sharron Angle. He based his claim on a story in the Las Vegas Sun that reported that a number of Republican officials were backing the Democratic senator, including Kieckhefer, State Sen. Joe Hardy of Henderson, State Sen. Dean Rhodes of Tuscarora and the late State Sen. Bill Raggio of Reno. The Sun has not retracted the claims in that article.

Kieckhefer’s staff asked television stations to stop running the ad on grounds that it was false. Kieckhefer then filed a defamation suit and received a temporary restraining order to stop the advertisements.

Kieckhefer went on to win the primary election with 66.7 percent of the vote.

Schmidt’s appeal in the case is now before the Nevada Supreme Court.

He argues the temporary restraining order was a prior restraint of free speech.

His legal brief to the court said the information was drawn from a reliable source. Schmidt said he had no reason to know the statement was false and there was no malice. He argues Kieckhefer has yet to show the claim was wrong.

Schmidt argues, “The parties were opposing candidates in a political campaign who had every right to exercise speech aimed towards the public interest.”

Kieckhefer maintains Schmidt was informed the advertisement was false and he failed to take any action to determine if the allegation was true. The senator’s court filings argue that “even statements uttered in the context of a political campaign can constitute defamation so long as they satisfy the actual malice standard.”