The Antelope Valley Times

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Judge poised to order Katie Hill to pay more attorneys’ fees

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[Katie Hill]
A judge who previously dismissed Salem Media Group as a defendant in former Rep. Katie Hill‘s revenge porn lawsuit, alleging nude photos of her were published without her permission, said Wednesday she’s inclined to order the ex-congresswoman to pay the company nearly $55,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Yolanda Orozco ruled on April 21 that Salem Media, owner of the conservative blog RedState.com, had shown that the photos were matters of legitimate interest involving a public official because they addressed Hill’s character and qualifications for her position. Salem Media then asked for nearly $70,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs. Hill’s lawyers objected, saying Salem Media’s attorneys were claiming to have spent an unreasonable amount of time on the anti-SLAPP motion and the motion for attorneys’ fees.

The state’s anti-SLAPP — Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation — law is intended to prevent people from using courts, and potential threats of a lawsuit, to intimidate those who are exercising their First Amendment rights.

Orozco said in her tentative ruling issued Wednesday that after reviewing Salem Media’s lawyers’ work calculations, she is proposing to award $54,470 in attorneys’ fees and costs. She said that although the amount is less than what the company’s lawyers have recommended, she does not believe their request was improper.

“Nothing before the court indicates that the time spent on the anti-SLAPP motion or the instant motion was unreasonable, duplicative or excessive,” the judge wrote.

Orozco is scheduled to hear arguments Friday before issuing a final ruling.

RedState.com published one article in October 2019 with a link to a photograph of Hill brushing a female staffer’s hair. The blog maintained the photo did not depict any “intimate body part” of Hill and argued that Hill’s actions called into question her character and ability to continue as a representative in American government. In contrast, Hill’s attorneys maintained that the “core injury- producing conduct underlying plaintiff’s claims is the theft and nonconsensual distribution of her private sexual images,” the judge wrote in her ruling dismissing the suit.

But Orozco found that the distribution of the intimate images through their publication on a public website constitutes a “statement” or “other conduct in furtherance” of the right to free speech.

“Here, the intimate images published by (RedState.com) spoke to plaintiff’s character and qualifications for her position, as they allegedly depicted Plaintiff with a campaign staffer with whom it was alleged she had a sexual affair,” the judge wrote.  “Accordingly, the images were a matter of public issue or public interest.”

Hill’s lawyer, Carrie Goldberg, told the judge the harm done to Hill is humiliation and she questioned where the line should be drawn when it comes to people having autonomy over their sexual privacy. She said the ruling will encourage the future dissemination of nude photos, exactly the opposite of what was intended by the revenge porn statute. But Orozco said case law shows the conduct of public officials is a matter of public interest and that the media have protection for publishing news that includes images.

Salem Media attorney James J. Holmes told Orozco that the qualifications of political candidates is “clearly a public issue.”

Orozco also granted similar First Amendment-based motions by the Daily Mail and RedState.com Managing Editor Jennifer Van Laar to be removed as defendants in the lawsuit. She awarded the Daily Mail more than $100,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs and Van Laar more than $80,000.

Hill voluntarily dropped Joseph Messina, the host of “The Real Side” radio show, as a defendant in the case, but the judge still ordered Hill to pay him nearly $30,000 in attorneys’ fees.

Orozco previously said she was sympathetic to the impact of the publications of photos on Hill, calling the decisions by Hill’s ex-husband, Kenneth Heslep, to make the images available to the media “tragic and unnecessary.”

Hill submitted a lengthy sworn declaration in opposition to Salem Media’s dismissal motion.

“My nude body is not a matter of public interest,” Hill said. “Moreover, even if my alleged relationship was a matter of  public interest, that does not justify the illegal worldwide dissemination of my nude image. I was humiliated and traumatized by the circulation of the nude image.”

Hill sued Dec. 22, alleging in her court papers that she lived in fear that if she ever tried to leave, Heslep would kill them both and their animals. Heslep remains a defendant in the lawsuit. Hill “suffered extreme emotional distress, attempted suicide and was forced to quit her job, which in this case was the representative of California’s 25th Congressional District, one of the most difficult-to-get jobs in the universe,” her court papers state.

Hill and Heslep officially divorced last October.

Hill, a Democrat, resigned in 2019 after the nude photos were published and news emerged that she had a three-way relationship with her husband and a campaign staffer. She was also accused of having an affair with a member of her congressional staff. Hill publicly blamed her then-husband for the release of the photos. Speaking in Congress in 2019, she decried a “misogynistic culture that gleefully consumed my naked pictures, capitalized on my sexuality and enabled my abusive ex to continue that abuse, this time with the entire country watching.”

The 25th Congressional District includes portions of the Antelope Valley. The seat had long been held by Republicans until Hill’s 2018 victory over then-Rep. Steve Knight. After Hill’s resignation, Republican Mike Garcia defeated Democratic Assemblywoman Christy Smith in a special election to fill the final 7 1/2 months of the term. Garcia then beat Smith again by a razor-thin margin in November’s election for a full two-year term.

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35 comments for "Judge poised to order Katie Hill to pay more attorneys’ fees"

  1. Tim, Matt, Stinger, William and Claire. Sounds kinda like the cast of Seinfeld.

    Or, if you wanna go back a bit, The Rat Pack with Angie Dickinson. “You’re not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on.” – Dean Martin

    Hey, Trumpist. Do you wanna be Newman or Uncle Leo? Or Jerry Lewis?

    Anyway, here we are at a site “about nothing”. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Just kidding AVTimes.

    • LOLOL. I call BS.

      Matt, Dave, Stinger and William are ALL THE SAME troglodyte troll with multiple personalities (but the same communist politics) and talks to each other, and even answers each others’ comments. Nobody can win an argument because he sits here all day using multiple usernames.

      Sick and unfair. Shout out to Beecee and Sonya for fighting the good fight against such odds.

      • Projecting again, I see, ‘trumpist’. Just because you are dishonest enough to use a myriad of names to make it sound like anybody agrees with you, does not mean everybody else does.

        It is obvious that you lack the ability to read comprehensively, as you would be able to see multiple problems with your claim. Also, you clearly not only do not know the difference between systems of government and systems of economics, but lack the basic understanding of what any of those actually are. I can’t speak for anyone else on this site, but I will state plainly that I am a Classical Liberal, like my Founding Fathers before me. This makes me an enemy to trumplicans everywhere as they are autocracists… like you, Trumpist, or whatever you are calling yourself this particular minute.

      • Trumpist#1 would definitely be Newman. Conspiracies on magic lougies and all like the one he just posted. Lol. Sorry bud, I am neither Dave, Stinger, or William. Now as I posted a while back, Sonya/Beecee could be the same. They use the phrase whacked out Democrats or National Socialists Democrats in about every post. Now I’ll ask u since they/he/she didn’t respond to it. Is it because they are the same, or is it because it’s the latest Fox catch phrase and all of u brain washed parrots go on and repeat everything they tell u. Help me out there buddy.

  2. That post of mine was so good I had to have a cigaretter afterward…and I don’t smoke…cigarettes.

    At the risk of repeating myself, I’ve said it years ago that the real problemo isn’t Bush the W or Trump. It’s the Trumpist#1, Beecee, Sonya/$$, and the 60 million voters in 2016 who were already primed and ready for the worst of the worst.

    Anyone could have been their choice, i.e., Charlie Sheen, Courtney Love, etc. They don’t care.

    The Trump voters think the following>

    TRUMP FAILURE + Blaming Democrats = Trump Success. That’s the New Math in orange ink.

    The next post has a vary old math puzzle that reminds me of the experience of dealing with Republicans in the Trump cult.

    • Alrighty. Here’s the puzzle. It reminds me of Republicans explaining any of their economic ideas which only make sense to them.

      “Three men go into a motel. The desk clerk said the room was $30, so each man paid $10 and went to the room. A while later, the desk clerk realized the room was only $25, so he sent the bellboy to the three guys’ room with $5.

      On the way, the bellboy couldn’t figure out how to split $5 evenly between three men, so he gave each man $1 and kept the other $2 for himself.

      This meant that the 3 men each paid $9 for the room, which is a total of $27. Add to that the $2 the bellboy kept and the total is $29.

      Where is the other dollar?”

      And, no, it didn’t go into Trump’s pocket like the $75 million he grifted this year for his “Stop the Steal” fundraising rallies. All the money goes to staff, food, travel. None for anything related to the election. He steals the funds to keep his fans stupid, I guess.

      Think “Trickle Down”, “A rising tide raises all boats.” “Taxing rich people heavily will destroy the economy.” and other fallacies. Republicans create these flawed notions and keep running with them even when they fail repeatedly.

      What’s that word for doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result? It’s what ails the GOP and it’s finally killing the party. The GOP is the only organism that’s fossilized before it dies.

      • “It’s what ails the GOP and it’s finally killing the party. The GOP is the only organism that’s fossilized before it dies”

        I don’t think that was a cigarette you were smoking…..

    • As much as you and your comrades mentally masturbate each other with really ignorant posts you could end up in the hospital along with the right-handed man.
      I would have bet you on you being a lonely smoker.

  3. If Katie Hill ran again, I’d vote for her. Or, Christy Smith.

    Unlike Mike Garcia, neither of those two would have:

    -Voted to not certify the election which would throw it to the R controlled Congress.

    -Voted “No” to the second impeachment.

    -Voted “No” to the 1/6 investigation in the House.

    Those were the BIG 3. He also voted against increased funding for the Post Office this time last year while Trump’s PM General was “downsizing” the place.

    Garcia will be gone. He’s not cut out for “governing”; just submissive obedience to the Maestro Naranja de Mar a Lago. [con arroz y frijoles] Trump’s hotels have bedbugs and DJT holds rallies for them. He can’t tell the diff. And, the little bugs look to live in that condo atop Trump’s orange head.

    What a ridiculous and deluded character Trump is. Who voted for that guy…Russians? North Koreans? KFC?

    I bet Marla and Ivana are both glad he’s in deep doodoo and it will get even deeper in the coming months and years.

    Will Trumpist#1(heeeeee’s back), Beecee :(, Sonya/$$ (for short) and the rest still kiss his big, fat..asstrological sign?

    That Superglue is amazing, isn’t it Trumpist? Oh, just pull ’em off quick like a bandage.

    QUESTION??? Why didn’t you folks quit while you might have saved yourself some grief, say like back in February 2017 when his first Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, was fired and indicted. But, nooooo.

    You stayed glued to his a$$ through a failed response to a health crisis, impeachment/s (2 fer flinching), inciting a riot and insurrection and over 30,000 documented lies.

    There are lots of nuts like Trump. But, how did 74 million Americans loose their minds at the same time?

    -Lead paint on their crib rails.

    -Not enough s-e-x.

    -Too much Fox ‘news’. [Tucker Carlson won’t answer if he’s had vaccines but tells his audience it’s their ‘rights’ to not get them and other blather. He’s being sued. Heck, others are being sued at Fox for the ‘election fraud’ lying and by Dominion, for like $1,600,000,000 USD.]

    If Fox is shut down from a lawsuit, who will guard the henhouse?

    I guess I can talk about Beecee now if you’ve read this far. She can’t. She had to do the 4th grade twice. Once right after the 3rd grade and again after she finished high school. They don’t make ’em like that any more. Good!

    They should return her to the wild. Critters like that don’t function well in society. A ‘feral’ Republican. Who knew there was such a thing.

      • He won’t because someone might have compromising photos of William (or one of his alter personalities) “partying” with Ed Buck and other Democrats (just kidding lolol).

        • Well, Trumpist#1. I’m serous. Where are those photos?

          Come on. I need them to make this year’s Christmas cards.

  4. Ed Buck is a morally bankrupted Democrat who donated to and hung out with Bill and Hillary Clinton and their minions like Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein.

    Nice company, lolol.

    • Twelve (12) people around Trump have been indicted so far and the “cleanse” is just beginning.

      And, you come here with that little piece of news Trumpist#1?

      Heck. Trump might pass Nixon’s gang of criminals.

      NO INDICTIMENTS, CONVICTIONS OR PRISON SENTENCES DURING THE OBAMA/BIDEN 8 YEARS.

      Aren’t you sorry you were born a Trumper?

      • I wasn’t born a Trumpist. At first I though it was a joke he was running. He came down the escalator and it seemed comical that a narciccist and clown like him could attempt it. Then he opened his mouth and America First policies came out and he wasn’t a career politician. It’s only them I fell in love.

        • Did u know he had paid actors all around him as he came down that escalator to make it seem like he had people behind him already. America first? More like the most wealthy 10% first.

    • … I’m afraid they’re right. National socialist democrat is the correct phrase. Harris, Schif, Biden, Pelosi, Newsom, Feinstein, this is arguably the worst crop of democrats since Boss Tweed. Perhaps ever. It is ever increasingly difficult calling myself a democrat –

      • Do you have a mental illness? Why do you feel glued to being a Democrat? Do they represent your values? Is being a Dem a life sentence?

      • But u aren’t one. Uve posted here before. U are clearly a Republican and worse a Trumper. Did u think we forgot all that u have written before, or is this possibly a new Barbi.

      • Remember, Tim, people who actually win are ‘losers’ to trumplicans. It’s part of their 1984-style big brother Trump Syndrome doublespeak. Haven’t you noticed it by now?

      • She defiantly won, but only because she pulled the bi-sexual card. If she would have ran as a straight white woman from Santa Clarita then we never would have ever heard her name again after she lost. I give her credit she knew what it took to get young votes and it worked. Now she’s the one that screwed up and could not follow the rule of keeping her finger out of her staff members you know what.