In the late 1990s, a gun prohibition organization adopted a strategy previously used by Jim Crow government officials against the free press: filing abusive lawsuits designed to cripple the businesses through the sheer cost of litigation against meritless claims.
In response, most states, Colorado included, enacted legislation against such misuse of the judicial process. Eventually, the U.S. Congress enacted similar national legislation.
In 2014, the same organization that had cooked up the original suits convinced Sandy and Lonnie Philips to file a meritless lawsuit in Colorado. Although it was clear beyond doubt that the suit had no chance of success, the Philips say that the organization chose not to inform that Philips that if their case inevitably lost, they would be responsible for paying the attorney’s fees of the defendants.
By David Kopel
