Webb,

Stuckey & Lindsey LLC has voluntarily

dismissed its libel lawsuit against Citizen

parent company Fayette Publishing Inc., Citizen

Publisher Cal Beverly and Peachtree City resident

Steve Brown.

The

Citizen's countersuit seeking legal fees and

damages has not been dismissed.

In

a written statement faxed to the newspaper

Tuesday morning, the Peachtree City law firm

cited a recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution

article as the reason for dropping the suit.

"Mr.

Webb and WSL feel the revelations in the Atlanta

Journal-Constitution article vindicated them and

that nothing could be gained from further

litigation," said the unsigned statement.

"Webb

basically admits what was evident from the start:

He has no case," said Citizen Publisher Cal

Beverly Tuesday. "Mr. Webb said to my face

that he miscalculated in filing the suit against

the paper, me and letter writer Steve Brown. Webb

said he thought the suit would stop us publishing

articles and letters unfavorable to him and his

law firm. Obviously, his intimidation tactics

failed."

The

firm filed suit in March claiming that letters to

the editor written by Brown and published in The

Citizen were "inaccurate,"

"outrageous" and "clearly

libelous."

Brown's

letters claimed that WSL partner James Webb Jr.'s

position on the board of directors of a local

bank, along with another board member who was

suing the city of Peachtree City, was a conflict

of interest because Webb was serving as city

attorney for the city.

"Someone

has to bring a halt to this type of inappropriate

journalism and the slurring of people with

excellent reputations," said WSL partner

Rick Lindsey in an address to City Council

outlining the firm's lawsuit.

Brown's two letters

were published in The Citizen shortly after the

city announced that it would accept new bids for

city attorney services, which Webb, Stuckey and

Lindsey have provided since 1992.

City

Council later appointed Lindsey its city

attorney, with other members of the same law firm

serving as alternates.

In

its statement Tuesday, the law firm says the AJC

story "reported that, in addition to the

negative letter writing campaign of Mr. Brown,

there exists a large number of e-mails written by

Mr. Brown and others which clearly reflect the

true impetus for various letters printed in The

Citizen.

"Mr.

Webb has over 30 e-mails which show that these

letters were politically motivated by a small

group of people with ulterior motives and

political aspirations," the statement

continues.

Previous

articles in The Citizen also had pointed out the

existence of inflammatory e-mails concerning Webb

and Superior Court Judge Johnnie Caldwell, some

of them from attorney John Mrosek, who is running

against Caldwell for the judge's seat in July.

Don

Johnson, attorney for The Citizen, said he finds

it interesting that "the dismissal was filed

at a time when depositions of Mr. Webb, Mr.

Stuckey and Mr. Lindsey were pending next month

and open records act requests were pending with

Peachtree City, the Department of Banking and

Finance for the state of Georgia, and the Fayette

County Sheriff's Department."

In

a statement in this issue, Beverly said,

"[Webb's] attack was doomed to fail, as he

should have known from the beginning. But he and

his law firm - who make their living by

suing people - decided to punish the letter

writer and this paper for daring to question the

propriety of this public official's actions in

regard to a public matter.

"They

intended to make us pay for expensive attorneys

to defend our basic right to freedom of the press

and freedom of expression contained in an opinion

in a letter from a private citizen about the

operation of his city government," Beverly

said.

Under

Georgia law, a dismissal motion may be

challenged, Johnson noted.

"What

Mr. Webb's statement, published elsewhere in this

issue in its entirety, fails to mention is that

this paper has filed a countersuit against Webb

and his law firm for engaging in abusive

litigation," Beverly said. "Our

countersuit charges Webb and firm employed what

is called a slap suit to deter us from exercising

our First Amendment rights. We are currently

considering whether to continue that counterclaim

to compel Webb and his firm to pay for our

attorneys' fees and damages. That decision will

be made in the next several days."

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