By MARIE ROHDE
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By a 4-3 vote, the Wisconsin Supreme Court said in a decision released Thursday that a lawyer who brought a frivolous lawsuit against a gay rights organization will have to pay the organization's court costs.
Before being appealed, the court cost for Action Wisconsin was about $87,000. Tamara Packard, a lawyer for Action Wisconsin, said she would ask for the costs of the appeal to be included, and that would likely bring the total to more than $100,000.
The case involved Grant E. Storms, a Louisiana preacher, talk show host and opponent of gay rights.
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Associated Press
wcco.com
MADISON, Wis. (AP) An activist's lawsuit claiming a Wisconsin gay rights group defamed him by accusing him of advocating the murder of gays is frivolous, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
Anti-gay activist Rev. Grant Storms of New Orleans sued gay rights group Action Wisconsin after it took excerpts from a 2003 speech Storms made in Milwaukee and claimed he was advocating the murder of gays.
Storms' lawsuit was dismissed in 2005, and he was ordered to pay court costs and attorneys' fees. The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld that decision, which had been reversed by an appeals court.
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Felicia Melton-Smyth was one of those people who take up a cause and make a difference.
And despite the fact that she stood out in a crowd, she did it largely unheralded.
Melton-Smyth, 41, was stabbed to death in her hotel room Monday while vacationing with a group of friends in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. She was a volunteer with the AIDS Network in Madison for more than a decade, and her death left her friends speechless.
A news story from Mexico reported a suspect, 36-year-old Francisco Javier Hoyos Reyes, has been arrested for the murder. The story said robbery appeared to be the motive in the slaying.
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