Disgraced Former NASCAR Boss, Brian France, Uses SLAPP Suit To Silence Parody Twitter Account

from the well,-that'll-solve-your-problems dept

Brian Z. France ran NASCAR for many years, though as a pretty obvious nepotism hire. His grandfather and father ran NASCAR before him. In 2018, France was arrest for driving while intoxicated and criminal possession of a controlled substance, causing him to take an "indefinite leave of absence," that became more permanent once he pleaded guilty to the DWI, and has an agreement that if he completes 100 hours of community service and doesn't get into any more legal trouble, the misdemeanor charges will be reduced to a "non-criminal infraction" later this year. France's time at the head of NASCAR came with some controversy regarding his leadership style -- so it was not that surprising that someone set up a parody Twitter account for him @DrunkBrianF.

France apparently didn't take kindly to being parodied, and hired some muckety muck lawyers -- Daniel Cohen, Kiran Mehta, and William Farley, from Troutman Sanders -- to file a blatantly obvious SLAPP suit in Connecticut Superior Court at the end of February, against John L. Steele, who apparently ran the account, going back to February of 2014. The lawsuit is, to put it mildly, ridiculous. It acts as if the concept of parody does not exist. Indeed, it insists that the intent of the @DrunkFBrianF account was to trick people into thinking it was really Brian France tweeting:

Since establishing the account in February 2014, the pattern of Steele’s conduct through @drunkbrianf makes clear the purpose and intent of maintaining the Twitter account: to harass, demean, abuse, belittle, and disparage Plaintiff while impersonating Plaintiff in a manner that is intended – and in fact does – mislead, confuse, and deceive others to believe that Plaintiff is responsible for the content and activity of @drunkbrianf.

Who the hell is going to look at an account that is literally called "Drunken Brian France" and assume that it's actually Brian France, and not a parody? The argument the lawsuit makes is that because the obviously parody account refers to Brian France in the first person it means he's trying to confuse people into believing it's really Brian France behind the posts, even though the multiple examples in the lawsuit are so blatantly parody, in that each one of them is designed to mock Brian France. Just a few examples directly from the filing:

The lawsuit acts all pearl-clutchy about the use of the 1st person. But that's how parody works, guys. You do an exaggerated and obviously buffoonish version. No one is thinking that the real Brian France would post this stuff. But, nope, France's lawyers insist:

These tweets and photographs, among others, reflect Steele’s ongoing efforts to deceive others to believe Plaintiff is responsible for the Twitter account and the account’s content.

Have these three lawyers literally never encountered parody in their entire lives? The complaint tries to argue that people are actually fooled by this, but they really only point to one single person, who seems generally confused, saying that if this is the real Brian France, they should stop tweeting like this. The second "example" Tweet is a DM exchange of someone just asking if he's really an alcoholic, and doesn't indicate one way or another if the person actually thinks it's Brian France. The third example is literally someone who is just against alcoholism in general, and asks the parody account to "drop the Drunken before your given name" because "alcoholism is a disease." That exchange doesn't even seem to know who Brian France is in the first place.

Either way, if parody fools some very, very foolish and gullible people -- such as the apparently ridiculously naive lawyers at Troutman Sanders -- it's still protected speech. But a lawsuit is a lawsuit, and this one claimed that the parody Twitter account engaged in "invasion of privacy" and "intentional infliction of emotional distress."

Even tough Connecticut has a decent anti-SLAPP law, a lawsuit is still an expensive and time consuming endeavor -- especially in the midst of a pandemic. The most recent filing in the case noted that the parties were "engaged in settlement discussions, and soon after the parody account tweeted and pinned a "statement" that certainly appears to be associated with the settlement:

Brian France was not and never has been associated, affiliated or in any way involved with this Twitter account or any of the content generated and/or posted by it. I will be permanently deactivating and deleting this account. I understand this account harmed Brian France and his family in ways never intended, and for that I am sorry.

And, to be clear: that's a bullshit resolution, but it shows how rich, powerful people abuse the courts with SLAPP suits to silence people, and they get help from law firms like Troutman Sanders in doing so.

Of course, if Brian France and his lawyers think they have a "victory" on their hands, they may find it to be a short-lived one.

Filed Under: 1st amendment, brian france, connecticut, drunk brian france, free speech, parody, slapp
Companies: nascar