Judge’s decision clearly on side of homeowners A state Superior Court judge recently gave a ringing endorsement to a Howell housewife, stating in no uncertain terms that she has the right to speak out about her continuing battles with one of the state’s largest residential developers. Tracey Kelly and her husband, Philip, have been involved in a legal battle with K. Hovna-nian Enterprises for several years, ever since they instituted a lawsuit against the builder alleging fraud and the use of bait-and-switch sales tactics relating to the purchase of their home in Howell’s Country Meadows Estates I development. In 1999, the Kellys received a tax reassessment from the county and township that lowered the assessed value of the home for which they had paid almost $300,000 to $90,000. Seven other Country Meadows Estates I homeowners also received reassessments. The reassessments were made because of findings of structural defects in the homes. In a clear case of the elephant being bothered by a flea, K. Hovnanian retaliated against Kelly by filing a charge of defamation following the publication of statements she made in a newspaper article regarding her ongoing battles with the builder. State Superior Court Judge E. Benn Micheletti delivered a clear and concise dismissal of the builder’s defamation charge on July 5. He cited previous New Jersey cases in which private corporations have been held to be "public figures," much like politicians, for the purposes of defamation law. In one of those cases, Micheletti wrote, "the Court recognized that all sellers of products can expect and must accept public examination of their products. Commercial vendors have submitted their products for inspection and presumably invite public attention with the accompanying risk of occasional disparaging or defamatory comment." One of the landmark decisions in this area of New Jersey law is a 1986 case, Dairy Stores Inc. vs. Sentinel Publishing Co. Sentinel Publishing Co. is a member of the Greater Media Newspapers group, which publishes the News Transcript. In that case the state Supreme Court held that a Middlesex County newspaper, the Sentinel, had the right to publish less-than-flattering results about the quality of bottled drinking water being sold in a chain of Middle-sex County convenience stores. The court said the newspaper did not defame or libel the convenience store’s parent company because the subject was a matter of public concern reasonably involving public debate, and because in cases such as this, that accommodation must be heavily weighed in favor of the right of free speech. The attorneys representing K. Hovnanian must have been familiar with that precedent but nevertheless went ahead with their defamation complaint against Kelly. K. Hovnanian won the battle by forcing Kelly to defend herself on what amounted to a nuisance charge — and maybe that’s all the firm wanted to accomplish — but the Howell housewife won a bigger victory by getting a judge to clearly state that she has the right to publicly comment on the business practices of one of the Goliaths of the New Jersey building industry.