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This lawyer is fighting defamation lawsuits that can silence sexual assault victims
It’s played out in public, high-profile cases like that of singer Ke$ha and music producer Dr. Luke and actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.
But the reach of the problem goes far beyond the rich and famous, says Jennifer Mondino, senior director of the National Women’s Law Center’s Times Up Legal Defense Fund.
“From my end, I am having people in all walks of life and all kinds of industries in all parts of the country facing these kinds of defamation charges as a form of retaliation,” Mondino says.
She says she sees students and low-income service workers threatened with defamation lawsuits for speaking out. Even when accusers file complaints about harassment to employers or law enforcement, there have been incidents where the accused uses these statements to file defamation cases, Mondino says.
