Unsigned
National Fuel Gas Distribution Corp. sued Yax and other members of PUSH Buffalo for trespass after they staged protests designed to demand a meeting with National Fuel’s chief executive officer to challenge its use of funding received to assist low-income customers with heating costs. The PUSH defendants asserted that National Fuel’s trespass action constituted a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) violating Civil Rights Law §76-a(1)(a). Except for its trespass claims, supreme court dismissed National Fuel’s amended complaint. Given the circumstances of the protest by PUSH members, Fourth Department rejected National Fuel’s assertion that the allegations in its trespass claims against PUSH were not allegations within the meaning of a SLAPP action, inasmuch as they were materially related to PUSH’s challenge to National Fuel’s application to renew its permit to operate the Conservation Intervention Program. Nevertheless, supreme court properly refused to dismissand properly granted partial judgment as to liability onthe trespass claims against PUSH. Citing Tillman v. Distribution Sys. of Am., Fourth Department observed that trespassing is not a protected First Amendment activity.
