FOX 13 Investigates: Lawsuit against rural newspaper is test for new Utah law

DELTA, Utah — Diane Mecham was born and raised here.

And she’s a reader of the local newspaper, the Millard County Chronicle Progress, which traces its history to 1894.

“It’s just the hub of our wheel of the whole community,” Mecham said. “It gives us our information all the time.”

Mecham calls a lawsuit threatening the newspaper “scary.”

“They keep us up to date on the county progress, the city,” she said. “There’s birthdays, obituaries. There’s wedding announcements. It’s a social as well.”

Businessman Wayne Aston filed a lawsuit against the Chronicle Progress in December. The suit asks for “not less” than $19.2 million. A judge Wednesday in Fillmore will hear an argument from the newspaper asking the lawsuit to be thrown out, citing a statute the state Legislature passed in 2023.

If Aston receives even a fraction of the money he’s seeking, the Chronicle Progress — 2,500 copies of which land in mailboxes and on store shelves once a week in desert communities stretching from central Utah to the Nevada line — would likely close.

BUSINESS PROPOSAL

In early 2023, Aston proposed to manufacture modular homes and other projects at a parcel across from the airport in Fillmore, the Millard County seat. The Chronicle Progress reported how Aston sought public funding for infrastructure improvements that would benefit his projects.

In December, Aston sued the Chronicle Progress in state court. He claims defamation, contending the Chronicle Progress published “false and defamatory statements.”

The Chronicle Progress in Wednesday’s hearing will ask the lawsuit be dismissed because of the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act. Passed in 2023, the Utah Legislature was concerned that lawsuits — and the cost of litigation — were being used to silence First Amendment activities.

The Act provides a legal mechanism for a judge to quickly determine whether slander lawsuits have merit and to dismiss such suits if they don’t. The defendants also have opportunities to recover their legal fees.

At a Utah Senate hearing in January 2023, media law attorney Jeff Hunt testified in favor of the bill. He was representing a media coalition that includes FOX 13.

“And the purpose, I think it’s important to emphasize,” Hunt testified, “in bringing these lawsuits is not to vindicate someone’s legal rights, but rather to intimidate citizens and subject them to costly litigation for speaking out on matters of public concern.”

Hunt now represents The Chronicle Progress in the suit filed by Aston. (Hunt has also had FOX 13 News as a client.) In their written briefs, Hunt and the newspaper have argued the reporting was accurate.

They’ve included citations to Aston’s bankruptcy cases and the business lawsuits filed against him. Aston has claimed reporting on those issues was false.

“This case is a retaliatory lawsuit brought by a litigious real estate developer,” the defense brief says, “who seeks to silence the voice of the small-town newspaper that dared report on his efforts to convince Fillmore city to help him raise hundreds of millions of dollars….”

PLAINTIFF ARGUMENTS

Aston’s lawyer, Ryan Fraizer, sent FOX 13 News a statement on behalf of his client. It reads:

“We support the constitutional rights of free speech, including those espoused in the principles behind the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act.  However, the statute (is) not intended to shield media outlets from the consequences of publishing malicious and demonstrably false allegations or information that harms individuals or businesses.

“We believe that is the situation at issue in the lawsuit. We trust that the Court will carefully examine the facts and hold the newspaper responsible for any damages they have caused.”

Meanwhile, Aston’s plans for the Fillmore development have not come to fruition. City Council minutes show no discussion since March.

Mecham calls the Chronicle Progress “very factual.”

When asked whether she thought the newspaper was the reason Aston’s project hasn’t blossomed, Mecham replied: “I think our communities can think for themselves. They don’t need someone telling them how to do it.”