Calif. Judge Strikes Down Lumber Liquidators Libel Suit Against Environmental Group

OAKLAND, Calif. — A California state court judge has thrown out a lawsuit that Lumber Liquidators filed against a non-profit environmental group for publishing allegedly libelous and disparaging statements about excess formaldehyde in the company’s hardwood flooring products.

In an order released April 15, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Wynne S. Carville granted a motion by Global Community Monitor to strike the Lumber Liquidators complaint under the anti-SLAPP statute. Judge Carville held that there was no evidence to indicate that the “gist” of Global’s statements, made in a July 2014 press release detailing an environmental lawsuit the group filed against …