The Irish Rover is asking a court to order Notre Dame professor Tamara Kay to pay $178,000 in legal fees for an unsuccessful defamation lawsuit that she filed against the student publication.
Attorneys for the Rover filed a motion for attorney’s fees in St. Joseph Superior Court Friday.
“Because the Irish Rover was the prevailing defendant on a motion to dismiss filed according to Indiana’s Anti-SLAPP law, it is entitled to a mandatory award of attorney’s fees,” the motion said.
The court had found on Jan. 8 that alleged defamatory statements in two Rover articles “were made in the furtherance of the defendant’s right to free speech, were made in connection with a public issue” and “were made with good faith and with a reasonable basis in law and fact.”
“The court found that ‘healthcare’ in this context referred to abortion services and concluded The Irish Rover's reporting on Dr. Kay's pro-abortion activities and speeches were accurate and lawful,” argued the Bopp Law Firm, the Rover’s counsel, in a Monday news release.
