Bluffton spent $17,360 in legal fees related to mayor’s defamation lawsuit, attorney says
A 2017 defamation lawsuit brought by Bluffton’s mayor cost the town government more than $17,000 in legal fees.
The town of Bluffton said it did not spend any public money on behalf of Bluffton Mayor Lisa Sulka when she sued critic Skip Hoagland, alleging he defamed her in long-winded emails sent to several people in 2015 and 2017.
But, after the lawsuit was filed, Bluffton spent a total of $17,360.49 from its general fund between June 2018 and January 2019 to prepare roughly 1,000 megabytes worth of documents in response to a subpoena sent to the town by Hoagland’s then-defense lawyer, according to attorney Richardson LaBruce, whose firm contracts with Bluffton.
While that eye-catching figure was “higher than customary” for the town government due to the scope of the subpoena, LaBruce reiterated that Sulka paid for her own legal services and did not use town money to carry out the lawsuit.
LaBruce’s explanation was in response to a public records request by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette that sought receipts of all money paid by the town related to Sulka’s lawsuit.
Some in the Beaufort County community had questioned whether Sulka, Bluffton’s mayor since 2008, had used public money in her lawsuit against Hoagland, a well-known government critic.
“This legal work was performed for the Town of Bluffton and not for Mrs. Sulka,” LaBruce said in an email. “The discovery was directed to the Town of Bluffton by Mr. Hoagland and neither Mrs. Sulka nor her attorneys were involved in the Town’s production.”
Attorney Barrett Brewer, whom Hoagland eventually fired, subpoenaed the town in 2018, seeking a wide range of documents including copies of town contracts, real estate agreements and Sulka’s emails. The town initially tried to object to the subpoena, arguing it was overly broad.
The majority of the money spent by the town — $14,769.24 — was to compile, review and redact documents in response to Brewer’s subpoena, LaBruce said. Those documents were delivered to Brewer in January 2019.
The town also spent $2,591.25 to object to the subpoena and negotiate with Brewer to reduce the scope of his request, he said.
Bluffton “regularly receives subpoenas on behalf of private litigants and the process followed in this case was completely within the normal course of practice,” he said.
Brewer did not immediately return a call for comment Tuesday.
In 2017, Sulka sued Hoagland, a vocal critic of government officials and the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce, alleging that he defamed her in emails sent to numerous people, including S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson.
In one of the emails, for example, Hoagland “falsely accused the Plaintiff of a crime and of being unfit for her office of mayor,” the lawsuit said.
“An examination of the Defendant’s rambling and at times incoherent emails can lead to only one conclusion: The Defendant had every reason to know that his statements lacked veracity, yet he continued to publish them with vigor,” Sulka’s lawyers wrote in a 2019 court filing.
Hoagland calls verdict ‘a public embarrassment’
Earlier this month, after a two-day trial, a Beaufort County jury decided that Hoagland has to pay $40 million in actual damages and $10 million in punitive damages to Sulka.
The $50 million verdict, believed to be among the largest ever in a South Carolina defamation case, raised eyebrows in the state’s legal community and prompted some concern from a prominent free speech expert.
Attorneys said the verdict was remarkable, adding that a number of factors likely led to the high amount in damages, including Hoagland’s decision not to show up in court for the trial.
Jay Bender, a well-known attorney with the South Carolina Press Association, said he worried that the verdict might encourage other public officials to file lawsuits to stifle “legitimate criticism.”
But he also said he hoped that government leaders will recognize that Sulka’s case was a unique situation.
Hoagland, reached by phone Tuesday, said he has no plans to appeal the jury’s verdict.
“I’m going to let it stand as a public embarrassment — to make a fool out of the judges that allowed this,” he said.
He said he plans to seek $50 million in damages in a pending lawsuit against the town of Bluffton alleging false imprisonment and assault.
Hoagland filed the lawsuit in 2017 following a 2015 incident at a Bluffton Town Council meeting, which ultimately resulted in two Bluffton Police Department officers escorting Hoagland out of the meeting.
