Pittsfield City Council candidate Craig Gaetani is asking for $50 million in a defamation suit against the Berkshire Eagle.
Pittsfield City Council candidate Craig Gaetani is asking for $50 million in a defamation suit against the Berkshire Eagle, its ownership and one of its reporters, over a story in which members of the public alleged that Gaetani had alcohol in his breath after a candidate forum.
In the lawsuit, Gaetani accuses the Eagle of "character assassination," and says he is suing the newspaper, its co-owner Fredric Rutenberg and Eagle reporter Amanda Drane for $50 million.
"This article will probably cause me to lose the election," Gaetani said in the handwritten complaint. "The article lacks any facts and is a vicious attack against me."
The dispute stems from a story written about a recent candidate forum, in which Drane described an encounter between Gaetani and two members of the public after he participated in the event.
"Out in the parking lot, a man tried to convince Gaetani not to drive home, saying that he smelled alcohol on his breath. Gaetani said the man didn't know what he was talking about and drove away, prompting the man to report the incident to police," Drane wrote. "A desk officer confirmed receiving the call, but said they'd been unable to locate Gaetani and likely would not have another chance to follow up."
The next day, during public comments as a city council meeting, Gaetani used his time at the microphone to warn Drane that he planned to unleash "the many attorneys that [he employs] around the world" on her and the newspaper.
"You're in trouble," he said to Drane, according to the Eagle.
Gaetani is listed as filing his suit without an attorney, though he said in an interview he has lawyers reviewing the case.
"The lawsuit is frivolous and without merit," Berkshire Eagle executive editor Kevin Moran wrote in an email. "We stand by our reporting."
In an interview, First Amendment attorney Peter Caruso Sr., who is not representing anyone in the case, said that media organizations can put themselves at risk reporting unverified allegations.
But he was skeptical of Gaetani's chances in court, noting that he is a public figure due to his candidacy -- a status that raises the burden of a plaintiff in a defamation case.
"The plaintiff needs to prove that the reporter knew it was false, or had reason to believe it was false," Caruso said. "I believe that Craig has an uphill battle."
And Caruso said the statement made by the man in the Eagle's article may not fit the definition of defamation, which requires that a statement result in the plaintiff being ridiculed, hated or scorned. The Eagle only reported the claim that Gaetani was driving with alcohol on his breath -- which, Caruso said, is something Americans do frequently without breaking any laws.
"It didn't say he was intoxicated. It didn't say he committed a crime," Caruso said.
Gaetani's account of his conversation is consistent with Drane's reporting, though he includes additional details in his lawsuit: that he told the men his address, told them to call the police and went straight home after the forum. Police told Drane they could not immediately locate Gaetani after the bystanders called about his alleged drinking and driving.
Gaetani, who frequently touts his credentials as a military veteran and an engineer who designed wastewater treatment plants for Pittsfield, has a recent history of criminal convictions involving threats and erratic behavior.
In May, Gaetani was convicted of threatening to shoot a city employee during a phone call during his unsuccessful run for mayor in 2015, the Eagle reported. Gaetani had called the fire department to ask about removing junk vehicles from his property; unsatisfied with the employee's response, he allegedly threatened to fire her once he was elected mayor, burn her house down and come to her office with a gun.
Gaetani received a six month suspended sentence in the case.
In June, he was sentenced to another two and a half year suspended sentence after he was convicted of breaking into a car he had sold to another person and stealing the title. In both cases, Gaetani dismissed the prosecutions as politically motivated and said he would continue to seek office.
"The assistant district attorney should have known that there was no proof that I had committed these crimes, but he proceeded and got lucky," Gaetani wrote in an August letter to the Eagle. "I will also file prosecutorial misconduct charges as a result."
In an interview, Gaetani said he is seeking to have those convictions overturned.
Gaetani -- who says he does not drink due to how it interacts with his medications -- said he was "forced" to file the suit to protect his honor and reputation.
And while he says the suit is not an effort to retaliate against the Eagle for previous coverage, he made clear he has existing grievances against both Rutenberg and the Eagle itself.
Rutenberg, a former judge who retired in 2015 and last year led a group of local investors who purchased the Eagle, had ruled against him in some civil cases, Gaetani said.
"The tables have turned, my friend. Now I'm the plaintiff," Gaetani said.
And he blamed the Eagle for repeatedly reporting on his criminal charges during his 2015 run for mayor.
"They made me look like a piece of dirt," Gaetani said.