Justice served – again: Everett City Solicitors, CFO file Defamation Lawsuit against Leader Herald’s Matthew Philbin, ‘journalist’ Joshua Resnek, Andrew Philbin, Sr. and social media page of ‘John Doe’

According to the Mass. Law website, Everett City Solicitor Colleen Mejia, Asst. City Solicitor Keith Slattery and Chief Financial Officer Eric Demas have filed their own lawsuit against Everett Leader Herald owner Matthew Philbin, “manager, editor and writer” Joshua Resnek, Philbin Insurance Company owner Andrew Philbin, Sr. and an unidentified individual named as John Doe for defamatory stories and editorials published in the Everett Leader Herald newspaper over a period of approximately 10 years. Mejia, Slattery and Demas, who are employees for the City of Everett, join Mayor Carlo DeMaria, Jr. who is also seeking legal action in an ongoing lawsuit which has provided testimony by Resnek, who has admitted to fabricating outright malicious lies in his stories about the mayor going back as far as 2017 when Philbin purchased the newspaper and hired Resnek.

According to the complaint filed in Middlesex Superior Court on Sept. 27, 2022, Philbin and Resnek “published malicious and outrageous publications and postings of defamatory falsehoods” in print, in their online website, and Facebook page claiming that the plaintiffs Mejia, Slattery and Demas “engaged in criminal and unethical conduct.” The plaintiffs claim that the defendants knew that they were publishing false statements with reckless disregard with the express purpose of defaming Mejia, Slattery and Demas in order to destroy their personal and professional reputations – causing economic loss, severe emotional distress and physical harm, according to the lawsuit.

Resnek, who has recently finished his fourth disposition for the DeMaria v. Everett Leader, LLC et. al. lawsuit, has admitted to, under the guidance of his boss, Matthew Philbin, fabricating and outright lying without any proof about the mayor in published stories and editorials since 2017 with the express purpose of destroying the mayor and his chances of reelection in 2021. According to sources close to the case, the corrupt “reporter” is scheduled to appear for a fifth deposition in the near future.

The lawsuit filed by Mejia, Slattery and Demas, who are senior staff members in the DeMaria administration, claims that Philbin and Resnek focused their vile attention towards them after their failed attempt to unseat the mayor in the 2021 election, going so far as intentionally interfering in a prospective employment opportunity for Mejia, who is a respected attorney.

The defendant John Doe, who is also named in the lawsuit and who’s been identified as an individual, is alleged to be the current author of The Everett Reporter Facebook page who, according to the filing, defamed and harassed the plaintiffs under the falsehood of claiming to be a news source and journalist. Allegedly, in one example of utter malice, John Doe published online an illegally obtained Zoom video meeting where John Doe posted altered images from the video together with commentary which falsely claimed the plaintiffs were racist, unethical and had committed crimes in the performance of their duties.

The lawsuit also claims that that Philbin and Resnek began their campaign back in 2017 in order to remove Mayor DeMaria from office, according to Resnek’s deposition testimony, going so far as fabricating sources, notes and false quotations from City Clerk Sergio Cornelio, whom they attempted to use in stories published about the mayor and Cornelio’s Corey Street property deal. Cornelio (who is a defendant in the mayor’s lawsuit against the Philbins, Resnek and the newspaper) claimed in his deposition to the mayor’s attorneys that he never made any of the statements Resnek wrote in his 2021 stories leading up to the election – stories that claimed Cornelio was forced to turn over a $96,000 payment to the mayor. Resnek would later claim in his deposition that he fabricated the stories – having no notes from his purported interview with the city clerk – in order to hurt the mayor.

Thanks to Resnek’s damning testimony in the last four depositions, it appears that he has opened the door to further legal consequences for himself and the Philbins given the current lawsuit filed the Mejia, Slattery and Demas. According to sources close to the case, there may be others coming forward who have claimed to have suffered the same vile wrath.