The American Center for Law and Justice is stepping into a court fight as it heats up over a coffee shop claiming it was defamed by a customer’s accurate depiction of a political exchange that happened there.
Neither side disputes the characterization of the events, but the coffee shop has sued the customer over his accurate statements about what he personally witnessed.
“The coffee shop does not deny the core facts. They don’t deny the shirt. They don’t deny the core statements. They don’t deny the interaction happened in their coffee shop. They simply don’t like how our client described it on social media,” explained the ACLJ.
“That’s not defamation.”
The legal team explained the First Amendment doesn’t allow lawsuits “over opinion or reasonable interpretations of disclosed facts.”
“Our client didn’t make anything up. He described what he personally witnessed. Calling the exchange between the coffee shop barista and the customer wearing the blood-soaked ‘Problem Solved’ T-shirt a ‘celebration’ of Charlie Kirk’s death is, at minimum, a protected opinion and not a false statement of fact. This is not a basis for a defamation claim, but it is a warning sign to all Americans. You have a right to express opinions, even when those opinions are sharp or unwelcome,” the legal team explained.
The legal team explained about the developing fight: “While at a coffee shop with his family the day before Charlie Kirk’s funeral, our client saw another customer wearing a grotesque, bloodied T-shirt reading ‘Problem Solved’ – a design widely understood as celebrating Kirk’s assassination. An employee of the coffee shop then approached the individual and stated that she liked his shirt. The individual responded that he was ‘celebrating’ that day, and she responded that she ‘loved’ it. With the news of Charlie Kirk’s death still recent and raw for an immeasurable number of people worldwide, our client was disturbed by what he had just witnessed. So he did what Americans do every day: He spoke out about it. He posted on Facebook that the employees of this coffee shop were celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk.”
The conservative political figure, free speech advocate, Trump supporter and founder of Turning Point USA was assassinated during a campus appearance in Utah last year.
The ACLJ said it is joining the fight after the client already had spent thousands defending against the coffee shop’s claims.
The legal team said this is “exactly” the kind of attempt to punish speech that the Constitution does not allow.
“Our client’s speech is protected, and we are ready to fight,” the organization reported.
