GRAND ISLAND, N.Y. — A new lawsuit has been filed concerning a popular local podcast, The Ugly Truth About the Girl Next Door.
The podcast is hosted by sexual abuse survivor Kaitlyn Cook Gannon and her therapist, Laurie Krull. Gannon on the podcast tells her story of being a victim of organized ritualistic sex trafficking.
In April, the podcast hosts were hit with a lawsuit filed by Calvin Kern, accusing them of defamation.
Gannon on Friday afternoon filed a response and a counterclaim against Kern, citing New York's revised anti-SLAPP laws. Those laws are meant to strike down frivolous lawsuits, intended to prevent First Amendment protected speech, in matters of public concern.
Gannon's attorney explains why her lawsuit qualifies under this new statute.
"The reason why it qualifies as an anti-SLAPP statute is if someone goes into the public domain like Instagram, like Twitter, like Facebook, and starts talking about matters that matter to the public, like sexual abuse, like the safety of children, you can't come along and bring a lawsuit against them, strictly and solely trying to intimidate them and silence them, which we believe is what's going on here," Joseph Manna of Lipsitz Green Scime Cambria LLP told 2 On Your Side.
Kern has 20 days to respond to the countersuit.