Seyfarth Shaw Pro Bono Attorneys and the Victims Rights Law Center Secure MA High Court Victory for Victims’ Rights

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Seyfarth Shaw LLP, one of America’s leading full-service law firms, and the Victims Rights Law Center today announced that attorneys from the firm working pro bono secured complete dismissal of civil claims against their clients from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. The case, Neil Benoit v. Amanda Frederickson et al., involved the defense of a rape victim and her parents from a lawsuit by the alleged rapist.

In July of 2002, Amanda Frederickson (then a minor), with her parents, reported to the police that she had been raped by a neighbor. The police investigated and later arrested Benoit. As the criminal case prepared to go to court, Frederickson decided not to testify due to her fear of confronting her alleged attacker, and the charges were dismissed. Years later, in 2005, Neil Benoit filed a civil lawsuit against Amanda and her parents for a variety of claims, including defamation, malicious prosecution and false imprisonment.

“This case was a nightmare for Amanda and for her parents,” said Krista Green Pratt, a partner in Seyfarth Shaw’s Boston office and lead counsel on the case. “The man against whom they filed criminal assault charges years ago, in 2002, came back to attack them via a lawsuit based entirely on their protected activity. The Anti-SLAPP statute protects citizens who petition the government, which includes filing a police report. With this decision, victims of crimes can rest assured that they can file a police report against their attackers without fear of retaliation via the courts.”

In response to the lawsuit, the Fredericksons turned to the Victims Rights Law Center, which sought help from a team of Seyfarth Shaw pro bono attorneys led by Krista Green Pratt. Pratt promptly moved to dismiss the case under the Massachusetts anti-SLAPP statute. Benoit opposed the motion, accusing Frederickson of lying about the rape and arguing that she had no reasonable basis for her petitioning activity. The trial court judge refused to grant the Fredericksons’ special motion to dismiss on the basis that Amanda Frederickson’s petitioning activity may not have been "legitimate" (a requirement not found in the statute or case law) if there was a chance that she had lied. The Appeals Court refused to entertain the Fredericksons' appeal, citing the pendency of counterclaims filed by the Fredericksons.

Arguing that anti-SLAPP movants should not have to choose between their right to bring compulsory counterclaims—which would otherwise be waived—and their right to seek interlocutory appeal as guaranteed by the statute, the Fredericksons took their case to the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC). Last week, the SJC held that interlocutory appeal is available to anti-SLAPP movants regardless of whether counterclaims are pending. Moreover, the SJC agreed that both Amanda and her parents engaged in protected petitioning activity by reporting the rape to the police. The SJC found that Amanda's police report had a reasonable basis in fact and law.

“Many rapes go unreported,” said Lydia Watts, Executive Director of Victims Rights Law Center. “Many victims are young, too many are minors. At the very least, they need to feel safe in reporting a crime to the police, if only to stop abuse or assault, even if the perpetrator is never prosecuted criminally.”

This year, the Boston office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP celebrates a decade of service to clients and the greater Boston community. In 2008 alone, the Boston office contributed nearly 6,500 hours of pro bono time worth over $2 million. Seyfarth Shaw encourages all of the firm’s lawyers to devote time to pro bono legal work, and the firm's contributions have been recognized through the receipt of numerous awards for pro bono service across the country.

The VRLC is the first law center—and still only one of a few—in the country solely dedicated to serving victims of sexual assault. As such, we serve as a national model and trainer, but all of our direct services remain focused solely here in the Commonwealth. The mission of the VRLC is to provide legal representation to victims of rape and sexual assault to help rebuild their lives, and to promote a national movement committed to seeking justice for every rape and sexual assault victim. VRLC’s three main programs are to: 1) provide free civil legal services to victims of sexual assault in Massachusetts; 2) partner with educational institutions, law firms, attorneys, legal services organizations, rape crisis centers, health care providers and others to a) alert victims to the availability of our services; b) ensure widespread knowledge of the civil legal rights of victims and c) leverage pro bono services for victims; and 3) provide national-level technical assistance and training to service providers on obtaining civil legal rights for sexual assault victims.

Seyfarth Shaw has over 775 attorneys located in nine offices throughout the United States including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Sacramento, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., as well as Brussels, Belgium. Seyfarth Shaw provides a broad range of legal services in the areas of labor and employment, employee benefits, litigation and business services. The firm’s practice reflects virtually every industry and segment of the country’s business and social fabric. Clients include over 300 of the Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, newspapers and other media, hotels, health care organizations, airlines and railroads. The firm also represents a number of federal, state, and local governmental and educational entities. For more information, please visit www.seyfarth.com.