Wisconsin’s largest gay-rights group was awarded $87,000 in attorneys’ fees by a judge who scolded a Louisiana pastor and his lawyer for bringing a frivolous lawsuit claiming the group defamed him, according to KATC.com.
Grant Storms, of the Reformer Ministries in Marrero, claimed in the suit that Action Wisconsin defamed him by saying remarks he made at a 2003 anti-gay conference in Milwaukee advocated the murder of gays. However, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Patricia McMahon said the group’s interpretation of the remarks was reasonable and the lawsuit lacked merit from the day it was filed in 2004. The judge also lambasted Storms’ lawyer, James Donohoo of Milwaukee, saying he should have known the complaint was a waste of time.
In a press release, Action Wisconsin praised the decision. ‘Action Wisconsin will not be intimidated into abandoning our mission to achieve full equality for LBGT citizens,’ stated Christopher Ott, the group’s executive director.