Deri Smith's lawsuit against three Elmwood township men she claims defamed her must go forward, ruled 13th Circuit Court judge Philip Rodgers.

At stake is Smith's claim that Don Barrows, Noel Flohe, and John Stanek engaged in character assassination when they circulated materials they knew to be false in a mailing to Suttons Bay residents. As this this Record-Eagle story describes, Rodgers expressed incredulity at claims of Flohe and Stanek that they did not know the contents of envelopes they stuffed.