Opinion ID: 2362404
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Lawrence

Text: The undisputed facts concerning Lawrence's participation in the firehouse controversy justify the conclusion that he voluntarily thrust himself into the forefront of that dispute. Lawrence, the founder and president of the Association, regularly attended city council meetings and spoke out against what his organization believed was an excessive appropriation for the proposed city firehouse. At one such meeting he was one of only five people permitted by the city council to speak on this issue on behalf of the public. He also attended an open public meeting concerning the appropriation ordinance and there again spoke out against the appropriation. When his cause appeared to be defeated by the mayor and city council, Lawrence initiated the petition drive through the Taxpayer's Association, with the goal of obtaining a sufficient number of signatures to force a public referendum. Lawrence was one of five Association officers and members whose names appeared on every petition sheet circulated. In circulating the petitions Lawrence personally canvassed Rahway neighborhoods house to house, explaining to residents the purpose of the petition drive and obtaining their signatures on the petition sheets. He visited at least fifty homes and collected at least two hundred signatures. Consequently, there is substantial credible evidence to support the lower courts' determination that Lawrence voluntarily injected himself into the forefront of the public controversy surrounding the firehouse appropriation issue, which gave rise to the defamation for which he seeks to recover. Moreover, Lawrence's obvious purpose in thrusting himself into a major role in the public controversy was to influence the resolution of the issue involved. See Wolston v. Reader's Digest Ass'n, Inc., 443 U.S. 157, 168, 99 S.Ct. 2701, 2707, 61 L.Ed. 2d 450, 460-61 (1979); Gertz, supra, 418 U.S. at 341, 94 S.Ct. at 3007, 41 L.Ed. 2d at 812. In addition, Lawrence received extensive exposure in the local press. On several occasions prior to the January Ninth article he provided press releases to the Rahway newspaper. Moreover, the trial court determined that in the few weeks prior to the publication of the January Ninth article, Lawrence's name had been mentioned and his most recent activities discussed in approximately twenty published articles (some in headlines) reporting on the firehouse dispute. Lawrence therefore enjoy[ed] significantly greater access to the channels of effective communication and hence [had] a more realistic opportunity to counteract false statements than private individuals enjoy. Gertz, supra, 418 U.S. at 344, 94 S.Ct. at 3009, 41 L.Ed. 2d at 808. This access to the media, taken together with Lawrence's active and significant participation in the public controversy giving rise to the defamation, leads us to agree with the determination of the lower courts that as a matter of law, Lawrence is a public figure for the limited purposes involved here.