A Lake County judge has tossed a dance studio owner’s lawsuit accusing a locally prominent LGBTQ activist and local middle school teacher of crossing a legal line in Facebook comments the dance teacher claimed smeared her reputation and attacked her business.
On Feb. 28, Lake County Associate Judge Luis Berrones dismissed a defamation lawsuit brought by Louise Taitz, owner of On Your Toes Dance Academy in Buffalo Grove, against defendant Carolyn Pinta.
In his dismissal order, Judge Berrones said he would give Taitz “one chance” to resurrect part of the lawsuit. Taitz’s attorney, Lawrence Steingold, of Arlington Heights, said Taitz intends to try again with a new filing later in March.
Her lawsuit included two counts against Pinta: One for defamation, and the other for tortious interference with the dance studio business.
Pinta is a progressive political activist well-known in and around Buffalo Grove for loud and often times confrontational advocacy, particularly for LGBTQ causes and events.
Pinta serves as director of nonprofits known as The Pinta Pride Project and BG Pride, the organization she runs with her family to organize Buffalo Grove’s Pride events.
Pinta has run for the Buffalo Grove village board, and has lobbied the village and others publicly to endorse LGBTQ causes and display LGBTQ symbols.
Pinta also teaches at a Buffalo Grove middle school, according to public records.
On social media, Pinta routinely uses her platforms to advance LGBTQ causes, and to criticize people and messages she finds “non-affirming.”
In her lawsuit, however, Taitz accused Pinta of illegally using her personal Facebook page to allegedly attack Taitz and attempt to persuade people to pull their children from Taitz’s dance studio, or not enroll at all.
The case centered on comments Pinta posted calling out Taitz for allegedly “passing on a petition” that Pinta deemed “anti-trans” and that was intended to “take away rights from trans women.”
Pinta told others she did not believe she was “bullying,” because she intended to “make sure folks know who they are sending their kids to” and she was presenting “facts.”
Pinta encouraged people reading her comments about Taitz to take their business to three other dance studios in Buffalo Grove who participated in the BG Pride events and, by doing so, were “setting an example.”
Taitz asserted Pinta’s comments harmed her business, leading other organizations, including dance competitions, to terminate business relationships with Taitz and her studio.
Pinta removed the comments, but in other posts, refused to apologize for what she said about Taitz and her studio.
In court, Pinta filed a motion to dismiss, asserting there was nothing legally actionable about what she said on Facebook about Taitz.
In that motion, Pinta asserted her statements against Taitz could be “innocently construed” because they only share "Pinta’s substantially truthful opinion that misgendering and falsely painting transgender women as sexually deviant criminals contributes to high incidences of suicide in that community.”
She further asserted Taitz also “is likewise not shy about sharing her views on social media,” including leaving negative reviews of other businesses and expressing conservative social and political views.
Pinta asserted her comments were at least partially in response to Taitz’s choice to publicly speak.
In arguing against the tortious interference claim, specifically, Pinta said her statements were “made in the context of alerting others that Taitz was discouraging people from doing business with Lifetime Fitness because of (Lifetime’s) inclusive, legally required policy.”
Pinta characterized Taitz’s claims as merely “vindictive” responses to Pinta’s constitutionally right to state opinions about Taitz’s speech and her business.
In dismissing the case, Judge Berrones has not published a written order explaining the reasoning behind his ruling.
The dismissal order came from the bench following a hearing on Feb. 28 in Waukegan. In his order, Berrones dismissed Taitz’s defamation count with prejudice, meaning she cannot seek to resurrect that particular charge against Pinta, except on appeal.
The judge, however, dismissed Taitz’s count for tortious interference without prejudice. He gave Taitz 21 days to file an amended complaint.
Attorney Gail Eisenberg, of Loftus & Eisenberg, of Chicago, is representing Pinta.
In comments to The Cook County Record, Eisenberg said the judge agreed with Pinta that her Facebook comments could be innocently construed as opinions, and so did not meet the standard for legally actionable defamation.
Eisenberg said Berrones dismissed the tortious interference claim because the judge determined Taitz has not yet stated a legally sufficient claim on that count.
Steingold did not comment on the judge’s decision, except to say Taitz intends to file an amended complaint later this month, in keeping with the deadline set by the judge.
Berrones serves as an associate judge, appointed to the bench by the circuit judges of the 19th Judicial Circuit in 2007. Berrones is a former Lake County prosecutor. He has sought election to the Lake County Circuit Court bench in 2012, when he ran as a Republican.