Court decision: Verbal attacks on bar can be banned

The California Supreme Court has ruled that Balboa Island homeowner Anne Lemen may be ordered by a judge to stop repeating false statements about a local establishment, the Village Inn.

The court decided that a long-standing ban preventing Lemen from alleging, for example, that the bar sells alcohol to minors, serves tainted food or is involved in child pornography could be legally reinstated, if limited.

“I am happy that the court found that the injunction was unconstitutional, but I am disappointed that the court thought that any injunction could be constitutional,” Lemen’s attorney, D. Michael Bush, said Friday, adding that he will consider appealing the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

J. Scott Russo, a lawyer for the Balboa Island bar, said Balboa Island Village Inn Inc. vs. Anne Lemen is a landmark case because prior to Thursday’s decision, the “court’s hands were tied” with regard to preventing future defamatory speech.

“Previously, the majority thought all you could get was damages following such speech,” he said.

Aric Toll, the owner and manager of the Village Inn, was happy with the high court’s ruling and does not think it violates the right to free speech.

“Understanding the ramifications of this decision, I am excited that in these narrowest of circumstances someone can be prevented from continual defamation of a business or individual,” Toll said.

Lemen “is a terribly tenacious woman, and she has harassed this business from many different angles and for a quite a long period of time.”

In the past, Lemen was accused of filming bar patrons and employees entering and exiting the building and calling them “whores,” “drunks” and “Satan.”

The case will return to Superior Court — where it was first heard in 2002 — so that the original injunction may be modified to comply with the state Supreme Court ruling, assuring that the speech ban applies only to Lemen and allowing her to make complaints to government agencies.