DeMaria Files Lawsuit for Defamation

Special to the Independent

Mayor Carlo DeMaria has filed a defamation lawsuit in Middlesex Superior Court seeking an award of damages for a series of news articles and commentaries that appeared in the Everett Leader Herald in the months leading up to the recent city primary election.

Those named in the lawsuit include Everett Leader Herald, LLC,  City Clerk Sergio Cornelio, Joshua Resnek, Matthew Philbin, and Andrew Philbin, Sr.

The lawyer representing DeMaria, Joseph D. Lipchitz, Esq. of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP  released the following statement:

“Today, Mayor DeMaria has filed a defamation lawsuit in Middlesex Superior Court seeking an award of damages against the Everett Leader Herald, its publishers and one of its employees, for the latest in what, as the lawsuit states, has amounted to a campaign of ‘malicious and outrageous publications of defamatory falsehoods’ against the Mayor.

“The lawsuit also names an individual who is the supposed ‘source’ for certain of the defamatory articles. The defendant newspaper, its publishers, and its reporter have month after month published falsehood after falsehood, fabrication after fabrication, about the Mayor, apparently betting that because the Mayor is a public figure, and putting up with utter falsehoods is sometimes thought to ‘go with the territory,’ he would never hold them accountable.

“They made a bad bet.

“At some point enough is enough. The defendants’ arrogant campaign of falsehoods has done damage to the Mayor and to his family. If this sort of conduct is not held to account, everyone suffers—not just the Mayor and his family, but the good people who work in municipal government and the people of Everett more generally.

“The Mayor looks forward to placing those responsible for this campaign of falsehoods under oath, and to asking a jury to hold them accountable for those falsehoods.”

Attempts by the Independent ahead of our press time to reach Andrew Philbin, Sr., were unsuccessful.

The Independent also tried to contact City Clerk Sergio Cornelio at the clerk’s office, but was unable to reach him there.

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