Rancher files libel lawsuit against environmental group
TUCSON - A rancher from Arivaca is suing Tucson's Center for Biological Diversity, claiming the environmental group defamed him.
Jim Chilton's libel suit seeks unspecified monetary damages.
He claims that a news release and photo captions posted on the center's Web site in July 2002 contain "false, unfair, libelous and defamatory statements" about Chilton's management of his 21,500-acre Montana Allotment, northwest of Nogales. advertisement
Chilton's wife, Sue, was appointed to the state Game and Fish Commission in 2001 over the strenuous objections of environmentalists.
The center's advisory says she "tried to suppress" Game and Fish recommendations about the allotment on the Coronado National Forest and that the Chiltons "have an agenda hostile to wildlife and endangered species."
The center, which has built a national reputation for aggressive litigation on behalf of endangered species, said its actions weren't libelous because they were opinions.
The environmental group also said that documents on its Web site can't be libelous because they were public records that were part of its unsuccessful effort to block renewal of Chilton's grazing permit.
Pima County Superior Court Judge Richard Fields has already ruled the Chiltons are public figures, which raises the bar for proving libel.
