Space Coast Daily’s defamation lawsuit against us, The Space Coast Rocket, was dismissed today. Space Coast Daily frivolously claimed our article about their partnership with Charles “Chuck” Maslin was defamatory, despite the fact that it was based on a live interview with Maslin and investigative research.
Our reporting was so accurate and effective that it prompted the Brevard County Commission to change the law and close a loophole in the Brevard County Sex Offender Ordinance that allowed registered offenders to work at parks.
In the lawsuit, Space Coast Daily also alleged that The Space Coast Rocket, who was represented by Attorney Jessica Travis of Defend Brevard.com Law firm, was not a media outlet. That claim, among many others, was also dismissed by the Court. Space Coast Daily also made several false and defamatory statements about Robert Burns, which the judge ordered to be stricken from the record.
Despite endless attacks to silence and discredit The Space Coast Rocket, we stand by our work, and have prevailed in every lawsuit or threat of a lawsuit brought against us. We will continue to provide investigative journalism to the community, and bring to light issues of public interest and concern that result in real, tangible change, despite threats, harassment, and intimidation constantly endured.
They judge granted them 20 days to file another complaint should they choose to try again, but they must add some specificity of how any of the statements they cited are defamatory. They failed to do that on this case on all counts and simply cherry picked sentences from the article, and stated “this is defamatory” without saying how.
You can read the lawsuit they filed here:
Space-Coast-Daily-Defamation-Amended-ComplaintYou can read our responses here:
Motion-to-Dismiss-Space-Coast-Daily-Defamation-ComplaintDocument_38604747_RD-1