Tenant organizers supported by the American Civil Liberties Union of RI have obtained a decisive ruling vindicating their free speech rights and ending a retaliatory lawsuit to suppress public advocacy brought by controversial landlord Jeffrey Butler. In August 2025, Butler filed a defamation lawsuit against some tenants and tenant organizers, including the housing justice organization Reclaim RI, based on a TikTok video briefly posted about him. In a decision issued Friday, RI Superior Court Judge Joanna M. Achille rejected his claim that he was defamed by the video and also fully dismissed various other legal claims against all but one of the defendants.
The ACLU of RI saw the lawsuit as an attempt to chill tenants’ rights to free speech and petition guaranteed by the First Amendment. The suit was part of a multi-year history of litigation involving aggrieved tenants and Butler and his property management company, Elmwood Realty. The ACLU had successfully represented Butler’s tenants and tenant organizers in an eviction case in 2023.
This one began in March 2024, when a group of Butler’s tenants at 1890 Broad Street in Cranston announced the formation of the Elmwood Tenants Union to address unsafe conditions at that property. A month later, during a court-ordered inspection at the property, an altercation between Butler and one of the tenants took place, leading to the police filing disorderly conduct charges against both sides that were later dropped.
Butler’s mugshot, which was shared in local news reports, was posted on the Tenants Union TikTok, along with the caption “Jeffrey Butler, slumlord.” The TikTok had background music from a rap song which contained the lyric, “You are not a pimp/You’re a borderline sex offender.” The TikTok was quickly taken down, but more than a year later Butler brought a suit against the tenants and union organizers, claiming that the background song defamed him.
ACLU of RI cooperating attorney Lynette Labinger, along with private counsel Mary Dunn from the law firm of Blish & Cavanagh, argued that the tenant union’s TikTok post was protected by the First Amendment, as it “was made as part of numerous efforts to communicate with other tenants and members of the public on a matter of public concern,” specifically the substandard living conditions at the apartments and the failure of Butler to adequately or timely address them.
Ruling from the bench on Friday, Judge Achille rejected all of Butler’s legal claims except for one. She specifically rejected his claim that the TikTok post defamed him, although she also held that his suit did not amount to a SLAPP suit. Judge Achille dismissed all the claims against the defendants, with the exception of one claim against one tenant, alleging intentional infliction of emotional distress from a physical altercation between the tenant and Butler.
“The judge’s ruling is a decisive victory that the court saw through Butler’s attempt at silencing tenant advocacy through the guise of defamation,” said ACLU of RI executive director Steven Brown. “The use of social media raises important ways for people to express themselves, and we will continue to show up to protect their right to free speech.”
The defendants in the suit were tenants Kellee Silva and Melissa Potter; tenant organizers Shana Crandall and Cherie Cruz; and Reclaim RI.
Documents relating to the case can be found here, and a transcript of the ruling will be available in the near future.
