Veranda Partners LLC v. Giles, No. 07 CA 2622 (Fla. Cir. Ct ., Orange County filed March 13, 2007).
Status: Summary judgment granted; blogger awarded $180,000 for attorney fees
The developer of a community in central Florida sued area resident Larry Giles over his website, www.verandaparknews.com (now archived at here), criticizing the development’s spending and landscaping. Giles responded with a motion to dismiss the suit under Florida’s anti-SLAPP statute and a counterclaim for abuse of process. After plaintiffs changed attorneys and then did pursue the case, the defense renewed its motions, which the court granted. The court also entered a default verdict on the counterclaims, awarding Giles triple his attorney’s fees, a total of $180,407.69, under Florida’s anti-SLAPP statute.

Links and Court Documents:
http://www.citmedialaw.org/veranda-partners-v-giles-lawsuit
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-mgiles2807mar28,0,2382483.story?coll=orl-home-headlines
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-slapp0707apr07,0,7548827.story
Complaint: http://mworlando.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/complaint-veranda-giles.pdf
Answer: http://mworlando.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/answer.pdf
Defendant’s counter-claims: http://mworlando.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/counterclaim.pdf
Other case documents: http://mworlando.wordpress.com/the/; also http://randazza.wordpress.com/2007/04/13/an-ongoing-defamation-suit/; http://www.verandaparknews.com/
Final default judgement against plaintiff: http://www.citmedialaw.org/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2008-09-11-Final%20Default%20Judgment%20Against%20Veranda%20Partners.pdf