Failed GOP Candidate Ordered to Pay $115,000 to Candace Owens

LTC Eugene Chu
..."According to the initial suit, not only did Klacik’s appearances on conservative cable dry up, but the pro-Trump pundit also lost a book deal, was pulled from political fundraisers, and had her contract with a “nationally recognized vendor” scuttled. Since then, however, Klacik has continued to use her social-media accounts to promote her appearances on various right-wing channels and local TV stations, as well as a regular spot on talk radio.

The back-and-forth between the two prominent Trump supporters, per the lawsuit, began when Klacik responded to a tweet from Owens criticizing President Joe Biden for recognizing Juneteenth as a federal holiday. Several days after Klacik tweeted about Owens’ “lack of engagement with black people,” Owens—a host for Ben Shapiro’s right-wing empire The Daily Wire—published a lengthy video alleging Klacik of engaging in felonious behavior during and after her failed congressional bid.

In that video, Owens acknowledged that she is “not an investigative journalist” and “could not confirm” her allegations against Klacik. At the same time, however, the Kanye West ally still accused the ex-candidate of “money laundering, tax fraud, and campaign fraud.” She further alleged that Klacik recruited strippers to a strip club Owens claimed the GOP candidate’s husband owns, along with urging her campaign vendors to “move money off the books.”

Months later, and after moving her case to the First Circuit Court of Davidson County, Tennessee, Klacik took to social media in February 2022 to provide her followers an update on her lawsuit.


“Basically, the judge has decided he's not going to dismiss the case as Candace Owens wanted to,” Klacik said in one video. “And so he has granted us discovery to figure out exactly if there was actual malice in this case.”

At the same time, Klacik had contacted several media outlets—including this reporter—in an effort to have a story written about the judge’s supposed denial of Owens’ motion to dismiss the defamation lawsuit. After The Daily Beast reached out to Owens and her attorney, she fired back at Klacik with her own Instagram posts.

“To be clear… Kim and I did not even have a hearing on a motion to dismiss. This simply never took place. I did not even know how to respond to the journalist other than to say exactly that. My lawyer (and then Kim's lawyer) then provided the reporter with the truth,” Owens stated.

She added: “Respectfully, The Daily Beast reporter then wrote me back and admitted that everything he was initially told was untrue and that now that he had looked further into the matter—he was declining to write the article.”

On Wednesday, Circuit Court Judge C. David Briley granted Owens’ motion to dismiss Klacik’s lawsuit—and ordered Klacik to pony up for filing what the state deemed a meritless case.

“The Parties stipulate that the Defendant’s Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-17-104(a) Petition to Dismiss the Plaintiff’s Complaint Pursuant to the Tennessee Public Participation Act (Doc. 8) should be and is hereby GRANTED,” the court’s order reads. “Accordingly, the Plaintiff’s Complaint, and all causes of action asserted within it, shall be and are hereby DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”

Additionally, Briley also found in favor of Owens being owed the $115,000 judgment, inclusive of all claims for attorney’s fees and discretionary costs. “The Defendant agrees not to execute on this judgment provided that Plaintiff pays $75,000.00 to Defendant within sixty days of entry of this order and Plaintiff pays to Defendant the balance of the judgment, in full, within six months of entry of this order,” Briley wrote."...

Why is this significant.. Most States make the losers of the lawsuits pay court costs.. That's why it is called anti slapp.