March 27, 2023 at 2:04 p.m.
Bangstad defamation trial set for late October
The jury trial will take place at the Oneida County courthouse in Rhinelander, with Forest County circuit judge Leon Stenz presiding.
Walker originally sued Bangstad in May of 2021 after Bangstad made a series of Facebook posts that Walker said were factually untrue. In September of 2021, Walker sued Bangstad again, this time for punitive as well as compensatory damages after Bangstad posted on Facebook what the complaint in that case alleges was outrageous and extreme false information about Walker and about the accidental death of Walker's brother 35 years ago.
Those two cases have now been consolidated into one lawsuit. Attorney Matthew Fernholz of Cramer, Multhauf & Hammes, LLP, of Waukesha is Walker's attorney.
The first complaint took issue with Facebook posts made by Bangstad going back to June of 2020, most notably those calling Walker a "crook" and "misogynist," and falsely accusing The Times of writing that the director of the local chamber of commerce was "retarded."
On June 6, 2020, according to the complaint, Bangstad posted a lengthy post on his campaign Facebook page criticizing the publication of a story by the Northwoods River News, which Walker also owns.
"In the course of the post, Bangstad referred to Walker as a 'crook,'" the complaint stated.
On June 10, 2020, Bangstad posted on the newspaper's Facebook page that The Times was not "a real paper," "was an embarrassment to our town," and was a "propaganda machine."
An attorney for Walker and the newspapers sent a cease-and-desist letter to Bangstad and to the MBC demanding that Bangstad retract his statements that Walker was a "crook" and that the River News is "not credible."
"As set forth in the letter, Walker has no criminal history and it is therefore libel per se to refer to him as a crook and imply that he has engaged in criminal conduct," the complaint stated. "Following receipt of the letter, Bangstad posted on his Facebook page on June 15, 2020, stating that he would not be retracting his statement that Walker was a 'crook.' Bangstad went on to refer to Walker as 'the local misogynist who owns a paper that no one reads.'"
Then, on June 18, 2020, according to the complaint, Bangstad posted once again on his Facebook page that Walker was a "misogynistic bully" and again referred to him as a "crook."
Walker's attorney sent a second cease-and-desist letter, this time to Bangstad's attorney at the time, Frederick Melms, demanding a retraction of Bangstad's reference to Walker as a 'misogynistic bully' and noting that the dictionary defines a misogynist as "a person who hates women."
Later, on March 26, 2021, The Times published an article noting that Bangstad's campaign finance report failed to balance by more than $18,000. (That report has since been amended to balance.)
"The next day, March 27, 2021, Bangstad responded by writing a lengthy post on the Minocqua Brewing Facebook page," the original complaint stated. "In the post, Bangstad once again referred to Walker as a 'misogynist' and also asserted that Walker and Lakeland Times had referred to the local Chamber of Commerce director ... as 'retarded.' Bangstad and Minocqua Brewing's Facebook post used quotation marks around 'retarded,' implying that this term was once used verbatim by Walker or Lakeland Times."
But neither Walker nor Lakeland Times has ever once used the term "retarded" in any publication when referring to the chamber director or any other individual, the complaint asserted.
The complaint alleged that Bangstad's Facebook post on June 6, 2020, referring to Walker as a "crook," constitutes a publication, as does Bangstad's June 15, 2020, Facebook post referring to Walker as a "crook" and a "misogynist," as well as his June 18, 2020, Facebook post referring to Walker as a "crook" and a "misogynistic bully."
Finally, the complaint continued, the March 27, 2021, Facebook post wherein the defendants claimed that Walker and Lakeland Times referred to [the chamber director] as "retarded" also constitutes a publication.
"These Facebook posts contain demonstrably false allegations as Walker has no criminal history," the complaint stated. "In addition, none of the plaintiffs have published any material referring to [the chamber director] as 'retarded.' Defendants' attempt to disparage the plaintiffs was done intentionally and within intent of harm to the plaintiffs' reputation within the community."
Likewise, the complaint continues, the defendants encouraged other people to stop subscribing to the Lakeland Times and the River News.
"Defendants' statements were made with express malice and stemmed from ill will, bad intent, and malevolence towards the plaintiffs," the complaint stated. "If defendants continue spreading false, defamatory, libelous, and malicious information that is designed to harm the plaintiffs and their professional and business reputation, the plaintiffs will suffer irreparable harm."
The second lawsuit
Walker filed a second lawsuit against Bangstad in September of 2020 for a post in which Bangstad accused Walker of standing by while his brother died after an accident in order to inherit the newspaper from his father, the complaint in that case stated. Walker asked for punitive and compensatory damages.
While compensatory damages are designed to compensate a plaintiff for actual losses, punitive damages are considered punishment and are awarded when the defendant's behavior is found to be especially harmful.
That's the case here, the complaint asserted, as Walker was not present to witness his brother's death and was more than five miles away, which the medical examiner's report proves, nor did Walker inherit the newspaper.
"Defendants' statement that Walker failed to aid his dying brother to inherit The Lakeland Times is false, as Walker did not inherit The Lakeland Times," the complaint stated. "Rather, he is only part-owner and purchased his shares while his father was still alive."
Bangstad's post on Aug. 8 went even further in its defamation, Fernholz asserted in the complaint, accusing Walker of engaging in elder abuse to his father for financial gain to the detriment of his stepmother, which was also patently false, the attorneys asserted.
The complaint accused Bangstad of intentional infliction of emotional distress.
"Defendants' publishing of this statement about his brother, which would have been verified as false by an independent source, the Medical Examiner's Report, was extreme and outrageous," the complaint stated. "Similarly, defendants' failure to research this statement of fact, as well as the accusation that Gregg took advantage of his father for financial gain, before posting them was extreme and outrageous."
Bangstad's conduct - in which he dug up a traumatic event in Walker's life from 35 years earlier and publicly implicated him in being involved in his brother's death - has caused unwanted physical, emotional, and psychological distress for Walker, the attorneys asserted.
"Similarly, the public accusation that he took advantage of his ailing, incapacitated father for financial gain and to the detriment of his stepmother has caused Walker physical, emotional, and psychological distress," the complaint stated.
The post
According to the complaint, on Aug. 8, 2021, Bangstad published a post targeting Walker and The Lakeland Times, among other things referring to Walker as the "misogynist publisher of the Lakeland Times[.]"
Bangstad had made that alleged defamatory and false statement multiple times before, but in the Aug. 8 post Bangstad also made what Fernholz called demonstrably false statements about the death of Walker's brother Brad.
"This guy [referring to Walker], who allegedly stood by and did nothing while his brother accidentally fell from a tree stand and died - who allegedly knew he would inherit the once-legitimate Lakeland times (sic) if his brother was out of the picture, is SUING US for calling [him] a crook," Bangstad posted on the MBC Facebook page Aug. 8, according to the complaint.
But that was not at all what happened, the attorney wrote.
"In fact, on November 21, 1987, Walker's 23-year-old brother, Brad, accidentally shot himself while hunting and passed away shortly thereafter," the complaint stated.
Specifically, the bullet from the muzzle of the gun hit the clip in Brad Walker's chest pocket, several inches from his chest, discharging shrapnel. Brad Walker climbed down his tree stand, stuffed his wounds, and attempted to make it to his vehicle, and passed away shortly thereafter.
"[The medical examiner's report] indicates that another, nameless hunter discovered Brad and left him to call for help," the complaint stated. "However, Bradley had died by the time the medic, police, and Department of Natural Resources arrived."
Pursuant to the report, the attorneys wrote, Brad Walker's official cause of death was an "accidental self-inflicted gun-shot wound," which led to Brad Walker's shock and blood loss.
"Plaintiff Gregg Walker, who was 17 years old on November 21, 1987, was not present to witness his brother's horrific death, but was over five (5) miles away," the complaint stated. "Notably, Gregg Walker did not inherit The Lakeland Times, but instead purchased his share in 2006, while his father was still alive. Further, Walker is only part-owner of the paper and does not hold complete ownership."
In the post, the attorney asserted, Bangstad accused Walker of "fil[ing] for his elderly and incapacitated father's divorce, all-the-while keeping his stepmother away from his dying father so that he could direct more money from his dad's will to himself is SUING US for calling him a misogynist . . . and a crook."
Bangstad's statement, which accused Walker of engaging in elder abuse, is false, the attorneys asserted, and they wrote that Bangstad also referred to Walker as a "crook" and accused him of criminal behavior.
"Likewise, Bangstad again calls Walker a 'misogynist' and the 'misogynist publisher of The Lakeland Times,'" the complaint stated. "Bangstad also describes The Lakeland Times as 'once-legitimate,' which insinuates that it is not now legitimate, and urges people to 'quit the Lakeland Times.'"
In December of 2021, Bangstad's attorney filed a motion to have the case dismissed, but Stenz denied the motion.
Bangstad's attorney, Frederick Melms, argued that Walker is a public figure and that the complaint filed against Bangstad, the owner of Minocqua Brewing Company, failed to provide sufficient facts for the lawsuit to proceed.
Forest County circuit judge Leon Stenz rejected those arguments, however, denying the motion and saying the complaint was properly pled and the question of Walker's status as a public figure would be determined by a jury.
"All the facts necessary to establish a cause of action are pled, and, together with the reasonable inference from those facts, they support a proceeding and so the motion will be denied," Stenz said.
In the motion hearing, Melms argued that Walker was a public figure by virtue of his ownership of two newspapers and, that being the case, Walker had to prove actual malice on Bangstad's part, and, Melms argued, the complaint failed to provide sufficient evidence of such malice to move the claim forward.
But Fernholz said it was Bangstad's arguments that fell short. Walker was a private figure, Fernholz argued, but, even if not, the complaint had offered enough evidence of actual malice on Bangstad's part for the case to proceed.
The case now proceeds to the jury trial.
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