IDA is currently defending itself against a civil SLAPP suit (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) being brought to the federal court by Schumacher Furs in Portland, Ore. IDA is among a long list of defendants—including other animal groups and individuals, 20 Jane and John Does, and even the city of Portland—in a suit that was filed shortly after the 112-year old fur store announced they were closing their doors for good. Seeking millions in alleged damages, store owners Gregg and Linda Schumacher claim the weekly demonstrations for the past 18 months by animal advocates were unlawful and put them out of business. City leaders and the police disagree, and after monitoring the scene week after week, their conclusion was that the activists were exercising lawful, constitutionally protected free speech.

The SLAPP suit—first used against environmentalists—is a tactic of corporations and animal abusive industries to try to silence or limit free speech of activists who seek to expose their unethical practices. Schumacher is asking the court to grant an injunction against the protests, which, if provided, could impose restrictions on the time, manner, and location of the weekly outreach events. IDA's attorneys, Greg Kafoury and Mark McDougal, will be defending IDA at the injunction hearing on Thursday, May 17th, and have also filed an anti-SLAPP motion to strike Schumacher's entire complaint on the grounds that their clients are well within the bounds of protected speech, and that Schumacher's allegations lack merit.

The lawsuit came as no surprise to activists who were used to dealing with the Schumachers' bizarre actions. The furriers and their employees have spit at, cursed, threatened, and harassed activists: in at least one case, they even followed an activist all the way home. Once, while a high school student was delivering an assigned speech about fur outside of the store with his teacher present, a Schumacher employee came out and screamed “I’m gonna kill you! I’m gonna kill you!” The Schumachers also held weekly "protest sales" at their store, blasted activists with Christmas music at rock concert levels, and held a counter-protest during which Linda Schumacher came out and screamed in the faces of calm activists. They even put a sign in the window stating, "All Protesters Should be Beaten, Strangled, Skinned Alive, and Anally Electrocuted!"

Portland City Commissioner Randy Leonard said in a public statement dated March 30, 2006, after the Schumachers rejected his offer to help, "I find the recent actions of the Schumachers very unfortunate, as they only perpetuate the problem with the protesters that they supposedly wanted my help to solve. I have come to the conclusion that they have chosen this path as a method of generating free advertisement for their business, and in fact are not interested in resolving the issue with the protesters."

Perhaps poor judgment runs in the family. Kafoury and McDougal have successfully sued a senior member of the fourth generation fur store, William Schumacher, who was forced to pay $600,000 to their client, a Greenpeace activist, when a political disagreement escalated into Schumacher threatening him with a loaded gun while he was legally canvassing in their neighborhood.

Schumacher continues to play the victim, but throughout our campaign, IDA has reminded media and passersby that the real victims are the animals who are beaten, stomped, and skinned alive for a vanity product. Visit www.furkills.org for more information on our anti-fur campaign.