Lafferty v. Jones

Citations

• 336 Conn. 332

Syllabus

The plaintiffs, a first responder and family members of those killed in the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, commenced separate actions, which the trial court consolidated, seeking to recover damages The listing of justices reflects their seniority status on this court as of the date of oral argument. This case originally was scheduled to be argued before a panel of this court consisting of Chief Justice Robinson and Justices Palmer, McDonald, D'Auria, Mullins, Kahn and Ecker. Although Justice Palmer was not present 336 Conn. 332 MARCH, 2021 333 Lafferty v. Jones from the defendants, J and several of his affiliated corporate entities, for, inter alia, invasion of privacy, arising out of statements made by J on his radio show advancing certain conspiracy theories about the shooting. The defendants filed special motions to dismiss the plaintiffs' complaints pursuant to the statute (§ 52-196a (b)) permitting the court to dismiss a complaint that is based on the opposing party's exercise of its constitu- tional right to free speech in connection with a matter of public concern. The plaintiffs moved for limited discovery pursuant to § 52-196a (d) in order to respond to the special motions to dismiss. The trial court found good cause for limited discovery and ordered the defendants to comply by a certain date, but they failed to meet that deadline. The defendants then filed motions for an extension of time within which to produce the discovery materials. The court granted the motions but warned that, if the defendants continued to ignore deadlines, they would be foreclosed from pursuing their special motions to dismiss. Two days before the new deadline, the defendants again moved for an extension of time, but the court denied the motions, explaining that the defendants had not substantially complied with its discovery orders. On that basis, the plaintiffs moved for sanctions. At the hearing on the sanctions motions, the defendants argued that, by that time,