Aurora, IL: Scheidler v. Trombley libel case

Get the most recent in-depth news on the case here.

In the summer of 2007, Planned Parenthood came into Aurora, Illinois under a cloud of darkness and deceit. They used the name of a shell company on all their paperwork with the city and went to great lengths to hide their identity until the project was almost complete.

When pro-lifers found out about the situation, they set in motion a massive pro-life opposition force to try to stop the clinic from opening. During this struggle over whether or not the facility would open, Planned Parenthood of Illinois CEO Steve Trombley sent letters to Aurora’s aldermen and mayor in which he attempted to justify their deception of the people of Aurora as a reasonable response to fear of violence from Joe Scheidler and the Pro-Life Action League. Trombley even went so far as to repeat some of the most outrageous accusations against Joe Scheidler from the NOW v. Scheidler trial—never bothering to mention that, with the help of TMS, Scheidler ultimately won that case in two decisive Supreme Court decisions!

Then in full-page Open Letter ads in the Aurora Beacon on September 6 and 10, Trombley repeated his accusation that the leaders of the protests in Aurora have a “well documented history of advocating violence”. He even printed a photograph of an abortuary burned down in Michigan in the 1980s—a crime that was never solved.

TMS immediately moved to file suit on behalf of the Pro-Life Action League, League communications director Eric Scheidler and a large group of local pro-lifers, all of whom had been clearly libeled by Trombley’s letters and ads.

In a surprising twist to what should have been an open and shut case, Planned Parenthood’s attorneys invoked the new and untested Illinois Citizen Participation Act. The act was intended to protect “the little guy” from being scared out of seeking government action against large corporations by offering protection from the large company seeking to crush the average citizen with lawsuits he couldn’t afford. Ironically, Planned Parenthood invoked the act claiming that the pro-lifers’ lawful libel suit against them was really an attempt to intimidate Planned Parenthood out of seeking favorable governmental action.

That’s right, the billion dollar world-wide mega-corporation was claiming that they were being intimidated by a handful of pro-lifers whose good names they had tarnished in print. Judge Judith Brawka heard the case in Kane County Court and, on several of the counts, agreed with Planned Parenthood’s claims and so decided that Planned Parenthood was entitled to over $300,000 in legal fees from the pro-lifers and the League.

TMS is currently appealing that decision and moving forward on the other counts of libel that Judge Brawka let stand. Check back to the TMS blog

Get the most recent in-depth news on the case here.