Mayor to receive $1.1 million in damages in libel lawsuit

By Cary Shuman

Mayor Carlo DeMaria spoke at a news conference Monday to discuss the $1.1 million settlement in his defamation lawsuit against the Everett Leader Herald, its owner, Mathew Philbin, and its publisher and editor, Josh Resnek.

As a condition of the settlement, the 139-year-old newspaper will be forced to shut down for admittingly falsifying stories aimed to destroy Mayor DeMaria’s reputation. Under the terms of the settlement the owner and publisher of the Everett Leader Herald have agreed to pay Mayor DeMaria the sum of $1.1 million in damages and shut down the newspaper for good.

Mayor DeMaria was joined at the conference by his wife, Stacy DeMaria, and attorneys Jeffrey Robbins, Joseph Lipschitz and Paige Schroeder of Saul Ewing LLP, the law firm that represented the mayor in the case. Virtually all of Boston media covered the event that was held at Saul Ewing offices in Boston.

DeMaria said in his remarks that he understands the job that journalists have to do, and that he respects the First Amendment, “but what the Everett Leader Herald, its owner and its publisher did to me, publishing article after article, accusation after accusation about me that they knew was false, that they knew they had no basis for, for the avowed purpose of destroying my reputation to serve their own financial interests wasn’t just dishonest. It was corrupt.”

DeMaria continued, “In summary, what the evidence demonstrated is that upon purchasing the Everett Leader Herald in 2017 – a paper with a long and storied history in our city – these defendants embarked on a deliberate, purposeful, relentless campaign to publish accusations against me that they knew were false, that they knew were fabricated, that they knew had no basis, that they knew would damage my reputation  and inflict serve damage not only on me but on my family, and that they specifically hoped and intended would drive me out of office, or worse.”

Despite the negative stories, DeMaria was re-elected in 2021 and continued his  productive and successful tenure as mayor of Everett.

The settlement represents a total victory and complete vindication for the city’s chief executive.

“If I am emotional about what has happened here, and the toll that this experience has taken on me and on my family and friends, I hope you will understand,” said DeMaria. “Even if the terms of this settlement vindicate me and what I have been saying, and they do, it will never be possible to repair the reputational damage that has been done here. I want to thank Stacy and my kids, my parents, and the rest of the family, and my friends for their support for me during this terrible ordeal. I want to thank my lawyers at Saul Ewing for standing by me. And I want to thank the people of Everett, who themselves have suffered from the unscrupulous behavior of these defendants, and who have trusted me.”