Home Real Estate Housing ACLU challenges landlord’s defamation lawsuit against tenants, organizers

ACLU challenges landlord’s defamation lawsuit against tenants, organizers

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PBN Staff

-

01/08/2026

ALCU — THE AMERICAN Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island Inc. has filed a countersuit to a landlord’s defamation lawsuit against tenants and tenant organizers.

PROVIDENCE – The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island Inc. has filed a countersuit to a landlord’s defamation lawsuit against tenants and others that stems from a 2024 altercation. In its counterclaim, the ACLU accuses landlord Jeffrey Butler of filing a SLAPP [Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation] lawsuit that targets the defendants’ free speech and First

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PROVIDENCE – The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island Inc. has filed a countersuit to a landlord's defamation lawsuit against tenants and others that stems from a 2024 altercation. In its counterclaim, the ACLU accuses landlord Jeffrey Butler of filing a SLAPP [Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation] lawsuit that targets the defendants’ free speech and First Amendment rights. Butler’s lawsuit claims the tenants and tenant organizers defamed him in a TikTok video made after an altercation at his property at 1890 Broad St. in Cranston. In March 2024, the property's tenants formed the Elmwood Tenants Union to address unsafe conditions at the Butler-managed property. The next month, Police arrested multiple people at the property after a brawl ensued between three tenants and Butler. Butler, along with tenants Eugene Vazquez, 21, Kellee Silva, 24, and Robert Silva, 50, of Warwick, were charged. Police body camera footage obtained by WPRI-TV CBS 12 showed the tenants telling officers that Butler came to inspect the property before a fight ensued. A city inspector later issued two citations against Butler’s management company, Elmwood Realty LLC, after inspecting several apartments and the building’s exterior. The city demanded the building code issues needed to be fixed in 10 days. The tenant union posted a mug shot of Butler they procured from local news on TikTok with the caption “Jeffrey Butler, slumlord.” The post played a rap song in the background which contained the lyric, “You are not a pimp/You’re a borderline sex offender.” In his lawsuit, Butler claims the TikTok reference to “sex offender” defamed him. The ACLU’s counterclaim argues that the tenant union’s post “was made as part of numerous efforts to communicate with other tenants and members of the public on a matter of public concern, being the ongoing public and publiclyreported controversy concerning substandard living conditions at 1890 Broad St. and the failure of the owner/manager, including Butler, to adequately or timely address them.” The ACLU’s claims also note Butler has acknowledged he is a public figure, argues that the post was not defamatory and that the tenants’ actions concerning Butler all involve matters of public concern protected by the state’s anti-SLAPP law. In December 2023, the ACLU and the R.I. Center for Justice filed a lawsuit in R.I. Superior Court alleging that Elmwood Realty and Butler, who was the property’s manager, illegally issued eviction notices to four tenants after they met with representatives from the advocacy organization Reclaim RI. The case was settled in February. The tenants lived in Elmwood-managed properties in Pawtucket and West Warwick.