The Orlando Business Journal had an interesting story about the target of an Animal Rights Foundation of Florida campaign fighting back in court with a slander and defamation lawsuit that looks pretty strong on the face of it.
The case begins with an early 1990s undercover operation by a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals member. The PETA operative enrolled in a school owned by animal trainer David McMillan designed to teach people how to train and care for exotic animals.
Of course PETA ended up producing a short video allegedly showing abuse. After a year’s worth of investigation by four state and federal authorities, McMillan’s school as cleared of all charges. McMillan told The Orlando Business Journal,
Four different entities investigated each and every one of 167 allegations. They interviewed 25 witnesses and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers’ money — and at the end of a year, none of them found any evidence of any abuse whatsoever. They closed the case.
Businessman David Siegel entered the story when he hired McMillan to put on shows four nights a week at Westgate Resorts which Siegel owns.
Upon learning of this, the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida began protesting Siegel. They’ve shown up at Westgate Resorts, at Siegel’s neighborhood, and even mass mailed letters to Siegel’s neighbors claiming that Siegel supports animal abuse.
And with that claim, Siegel maintains, the group crossed the line into slander and defamation of character. As Siegel’s attorney Victor Kline puts it,
David Siegel has never seen any bit of information — not one iota, not a scintilla, not a shred of evidence — that [McMillan's] Tiger’s Eye Productions, in any way, abuses animals.
As the Kline spins the analogy, the group’s claim is akin to saying that because someone gave a donation to the Republican Party in the 1970s, it is fair game to say that he supports burglary.
Orange County Circuit Judge R. James Stoker recently issued a temporary injunction against the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida prohibiting them from protesting outside his home or business.
It’s good to see someone finally holding an animal rights group accountable for its outlandish claims.
Source:
Siegel biting back at animal rights activists. Becky Knapp, Orlando Business Journal, February 28, 2003.
