Reason.com: “No Need for Expert Evidence as to Media Defendant Negligence in Resisting Anti-SLAPP Motion”

EUGENE VOLOKH | 1.5.2026 8:34 AM

McCleary v. Nexstar Media Group, Inc., decided last month by the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals, but just posted a few days ago on Westlaw, involved a libel lawsuit and a defendant’s motion to dismiss under the Oklahoma “anti-SLAPP” statute. That statute requires that plaintiffs (usually defamation plaintiffs) who are suing over defendants’ speech on matters of public concern establish, at an early stage, “by clear and specific evidence a prima facie case for each essential element of the claim in question.”

From the opinion by Vice-Chief Judge Stacie Hixon, joined by Judges Deborah Barnes and Jim Huber:

KFOR, a news station …, presented a news segment about several individuals who had been prosecuted for charges of human sex trafficking in Texas federal court. One of the defendants in that case was named Christopher McCleary. With that segment, KFOR ran a photograph of Appellee, an Oklahoma resident, Christopher Renyles McCleary (“McCleary”). However, the defendant named in the Texas criminal case was Texas resident, Christopher Lynn McCleary. The Appellee, McCleary, was not related to nor was he charged with any of the crimes discussed in Nexstar’s report.

McCleary sued for defamation, and the key legal question was whether he had to introduce expert evidence that defendants’ actions were negligent:

Read the entire article: HERE 

Donald E. Smolen, II, Michael F. Smith, and Dustin J. Vanderhoof (Smolen | Law, PLLC) represent plaintiff.