A local animal-rights activist has lost another round in federal court as a judge rejected her claim that state Sen. Mike Brubaker violated her free-speech rights.
An appeals court supported a lower court decision dismissing Denver resident Barbara Showalter's allegations against the Warwick Township Republican.
Showalter alleged that, in February 2007, Brubaker and the executive director of the Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, Kristin Ebersole, intimidated her after she photographed them meeting with dog breeders in a convenience-store parking lot.
Showalter claimed they violated her rights under the First and Fourth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. District Court for eastern Pennsylvania dismissed the suit in June 2007.
"…Showalter inadequately alleged action under color of state law," the court ruled at the time. "Although Brubaker and Ebersole are state officials, the Complaint provides no facts from which we could reasonably infer that they invoked their state authority or otherwise attempted to exercise the power vested in them by state law."
Showalter told a newspaper reporter in 2007 that the incident happened outside a Turkey Hill store just off Route 222 in Ephrata. She said Brubaker reacted to her taking pictures of participants in the gathering by trying to prevent her from driving away, and that Ebersole pounded on her car window in an attempt to take her photos or camera.
The federal appeals court affirmed the lower court's decision on June 13.
Brubaker, in a prepared statement, said: "Frankly, it's unsettling to find yourself sued for allegedly violating someone's constitutional rights when you know very well it's frivolous and the claims not true. Because the claims were completely groundless, there really was no other decision the courts could have made. Even so, it's unfortunate and I'm glad it's over."
PDF DOCUMENT: Opinion of the court
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