The Duluth Monitor had a busy 2022. We published a series of eight articles about the antics of Two Harbors Mayor Chris Swanson, over several months, which contributed to voters expelling him from office with a jaw-dropping 86 percent of the vote.
Naturally, Mr. Swanson did not appreciate the Monitor’s attention. On April 19, 2022, Swanson’s attorney, Brendan Tupa, served the Monitor and John Ramos with a lawsuit alleging defamation of Mr. Swanson’s character. Specifically, Mr. Swanson objected to an article where Mr. Ramos reported that Mr. Swanson had promoted Swanson businesses on the city Twitter account 92 times while mayor, without revealing his conflict of interest.
“The above-described statements are false and defamatory and tend to injure Plaintiff’s reputation, lower the regard in which he is held in the community, deter third persons from associating or dealing with him, injure his character, subject him to ridicule, contempt, or distrust, and degrade or disgrace him in the eyes of others,” the dashing Mr. Tupa asserted indignantly, before demanding a minimum of $50,000 in damages and the removal of all offending material from the Monitor’s website.
Mr. Ramos enthusiastically engaged with the lawsuit, quickly firing off a response denying all the allegations and refusing to remove the story.
At that point, Swanson and Tupa seemed to lose their appetite for the lawsuit. Although Mr. Ramos emailed the suave Mr. Tupa repeatedly over the next several months, asking that the lawsuit proceed, Tupa soon stopped responding.
Under Minnesota law, if no action is taken on a civil lawsuit within one year of it commencing, the lawsuit is dismissed with prejudice—meaning it can never be filed again.
After a year of inaction, Swanson’s lawsuit expired on April 19, 2023.
When Ramos emailed Mr. Tupa, asking for confirmation that the lawsuit had expired, Tupa responded: “Correct. Case is dismissed per Rule 5.04(a) of the Minnesota Rules of Civil Procedure. Please cease all further communications with me in this regard accordingly.”
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Cover photo: Former Two Harbors Mayor Chris Swanson
Sweet. Is Mr. Tupa really suave?