League of United Lation American Citizens - Richmond Region Council 4614 et al v. Public Interest Legal Foundation et al

Filing 63

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER - The Court hereby DENIES Defendants' Motion to Dismiss 30 31 . Defendants have fourteen (14) days from the date of this Order to file a responsive pleading. Signed by District Judge Liam O'Grady on 08/13/2018. (dvanm, )

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
Alexandria Division

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CITIZENS-RICHMOND REGION COUNCIL )
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4614 ETAL,
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Plaintiff,
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V.
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LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN

PUBLIC INTEREST LEGAL FOUNDATION

ETAL,

Defendant.

Civil No. l:18-cv-00423
Hon. Liam O'Grady

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MEMORANDUM OPINION & ORDER

Currently before the Court is Defendants' Motion to Dismiss(Dkt. 30; 31). The Court has
considered the evidence and the pleadings and heard the parties' oral arguments on June 22,
2018. Dkt. 61. The Court finds good cause to DENY the motion.
I.

Background
On April 12,2018,Plaintiff League of United Latin American Citizens("LULAC")and

four other individually named Plaintiffs ("Bonilla,""Freeman,""Gearhart," and "Rosen")filed

suit against Defendants Public Interest Legal Foundation ("PILF")and J. Christian Adams.

Compl.

12-18. Plaintiffs allege that in September 2016, Defendants, in conjunction with non-

party Virginia Voters Alliance, published a written report titled Alien Invasion /to national

media which accused Virginia voters of"committing multiple, separate felonies, from illegally
registering to vote to casting an ineligible ballot." Id. at

24-25, 31. Specifically, Plaintiffs

allege that Defendants obtained from Virginia county registrars several lists of"[Virginia voter]
registrants who had been purged from the voter rolls." Id. at

1

27,46. Plaintiffs assert that