The $50million Lawsuit Against Me

Apologies it’s been so long posting here - and I know I promised a follow up from the Jake Lang event but I’ve been a bit distracted.

If you can support my legal defense I have a gofundme set up at the link: https://gofund.me/7585a70cf

I’ve received death threats online and in person so I’m used to it - but this time it’s a $50 million lawsuit by Armed Forces Brewing Company (AFBC) - trying to stop me from not only covering them but specifically trying to stop me working as a journalist all together.

The claims in the lawsuit are ridiculous, that I’m part of some conspiracy to destroy a business by making defamatory things up about the owner and board members. All I did was write a piece for my newsletter about their anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-Black Lives Matter comments on social media. You can read it here and see the posts they made. And here is the only other piece that I wrote about them when they closed. You can read more about the company in this excellent article by the Virginia Mercury.

AFBC and its board is openly conservative, that’s fine, businesses can brand however they like. But they have decided to target me and my codefendants as they see us as crazed leftist radicals. It feeds into their brand and gets them occasionally written about in conservative media. Unfortunately they have to make up things, like that I’m running on-line groups attacking them. I am not. I am a journalist who writes about the right side of American politics.

While the claims in the complaint are not true - I have to take this extremely seriously. Which is why I need to retain an excellent lawyer. Unfortunately like many journalists in this country I am broke. I have been trying desperately to find a lawyer that will take this on pro bono or find one of the many first amendment orgs to support me in this fight, but so far the help is not there.

That’s why, I’m turning to the public to stand up for a journalist’s rights and ability to report. I’m trying to raise the minimum I need to retain a lawyer - I’m hoping I won’t need more than that but these cases have a way to continue so if I do reach that number - I’m hoping you will continue supporting.

And if you’re a lawyer barred in Virginia who wants to take on pro-bono a precedent defining anti-slapp case - please contact me - my signal is @zdroberts.81 and email is zdroberts at gmail.com

You can read the complaint here .

You can read the WHRO article that was written about the case here .

If you can support my legal defense I have a gofundme set up at the link: https://gofund.me/7585a70cf

Thanks for your support whether it comes in the form of funding or just sharing the gofundme link.

-Zach