Trial Seminar Defamation Claim Survives

The Nevada Supreme Court affirmed a district court order denying anti-SLAPP relief 

Respondents Sean K. Claggett and Claggett & Sykes Law Firm (collectively, Claggett) taught trial seminars operated by appellants Don C. Keenan, William Entrekin, D.C. Keenan & Associates, P.A. and Keenan’s Kids Foundation, Inc. (collectively, Keenan). After the relationship deteriorated, Claggett began teaching trial seminars for a rival legal education company. In 2020, Keenan sued Claggett in Georgia federal court, generally alleging that Claggett misappropriated teaching materials.

While that litigation was pending, Entrekin (allegedly on behalf of Keenan) sent an email through a private listserv claiming that Claggett was an unreliable instructor who intentionally misappropriated educational materials. Keenan voluntarily dismissed the Georgia action.

Claggett then sued Keenan in Nevada state district court asserting claims for defamation, defamation per se, civil conspiracy, intentional interference with contractual relations and prospective economic advantage, and declaratory relief. After a hearing, the district court denied Keenans’ motion to dismiss pursuant to NRS 41.660 and NRCP 12(b)(5). As relevant here, the district court determined that the listserv email did not qualify for anti-SLAPP protection under NRS 41.637(3) or (4). This appeal follows.

The court agreed with the district court

the district court correctly concluded that the statements in the listserv email failed to qualify for protection under NRS 41.637(3). Like in Patin, the statements were “not directed to any specific person or group” with an interest in the Georgia litigation. Id. at 727, 429 P.3d at 1252. Rather, the listserv recipients included numerous plaintiff lawyers across the country, including approximately 100 Nevada attorneys, who did not have a direct interest in the Georgia litigation.

Further

Keenan next argues the district court erred because the statements were made in direct connection with an issue of public interest and in a public forum under NRS 41.637(4). This challenge also fails as the district court correctly determined that the listserv did not constitute a “public forum.”

Thus

Having identified two independent grounds for denying the motion to dismiss at the first prong of NRS 41.660’s anti-SLAPP analysis, we need not address the second prong concerning whether Claggett demonstrated the requisite probability of prevailing on his claims.

The case is Keenan et al v. Clagett & Associates et al. (May 15, 2024).

A decision of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada remanding a related dispute over alleged interference with the representation of a client in a medical malpractice matter

Around 2013 or 2014, Defendant Don Kennan (“Mr. Kennan”) started Kennan Ball Trial College (“KBC”), which is an institute for plaintiff’s side attorneys to learn trial skills…

Sean Claggett is a trial attorney and founding partner of Claggett & Sykes Law Firm in Las Vegas. (Id. ¶ 31). He began attending courses at KBC in 2014, and within the next two to three years, became an instructor at KBC. (Id. ¶ 33). Mr. Claggett and Mr. Kennan worked closely in a professional setting. Around 2016, Defendant Kennan co-counseled in Nevada on one of Claggett & Sykes’s cases. (Id. ¶ 37). 

In 2018, their relationship began to deteriorate. According to Mr. Kennan, Mr. Claggett began conducting trials that did not strictly follow Kennan’s teachings. (Id. ¶ 38). Mr. Kennan made clear that his instructors were not to conduct trials outside of the strict confines of what he taught. (Id.). Later that same year, Mr. Claggett informed Mr. Kennan that all attorneys at Claggett & Sykes were resigning from KBC where they had volunteered as instructors and listserv moderators. (Id. ¶ 45).

Though Mr. Claggett and other attorneys ended their relationship with the Kennan Trial Institute, they continued to attend and teach other trial courses, such as the Trojan Horse Method, Mark Lanier’s Trial Academy, and Rick Friedman’s Ethos. (Id. ¶ 48). In 2020, Mr. Claggett volunteered to teach a Case Analysis course on the voir dire methods he uses during trial. (Id. ¶ 50). In April 2020, Mr. Kennan filed a lawsuit against Mr. Claggett, alleging that he misappropriated Mr. Kennan’s voir dire methods. (Id. ¶ 52).

On April 27, 2020, Defendant Entrekin sent an email to all attorneys on the listserv, which included Nevada-based attorneys.

(Mike Frisch)