(CN) – A Jewish real estate agent in Montana on Tuesday sued the publisher of the anti-Semitic website Daily Stormer, claiming he and his army unleashed a troll storm of vicious attacks against her and her family.
Tanya Gersh sued Daily Stormer publisher Andrew Anglin in Montana federal court on claims of invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, malice and violations of Montana's intimidation laws.
Gersh says that beginning in December 2016, Anglin began recruiting his Daily Stormer readers to call, email or visit her in Whitefish, Montana, after she was involved in a proposed real estate transaction with the mother of the founder of the “alt-right” white nationalist movement in America.
Richard Spencer is president and director of the National Policy Institute – an organization “dedicated to the heritage, identity and future of people of European descent in the United States and around the world.” The institute has helped coin the term “alt-right,” an offshoot of conservatism that includes racism and white nationalism.
Spencer lived in Whitefish, a resort town with a lake and a ski area close to Glacier National Park, for over a year before he and the town began receiving more attention after Spencer last fall praised Donald Trump at an election event, saying “Hail Trump” and performing a Nazi-salute.
The public backlash in the small town of about 6,500 residents was swift. There was talk of people picketing his mother Sherry Spencer's commercial building in Whitefish, so Sherry sought Gersh’s help to sell the property, the complaint says.
After Sherry Spencer and Gersh discontinued conversations on the possible property sale, Sherry posted a statement online saying Gersh had tried to blackmail her into selling the property and donating part of the proceeds to human-rights causes. That's when Anglin began recruiting his online followers to harass and intimidate Gersh, according to the lawsuit.
Articles on the Daily Stormer “caused his followers to overwhelm Ms. Gersh with hundreds of hateful and threatening anti-Semitic phone calls, voicemails, text messages, emails, letters, social media comments, and false online business reviews,” the lawsuit says. “Mr. Anglin made his initial call to arms in a December 16, 2016 article that urged “Let’s Hit Em Up. Are y’all ready for an old-fashioned Troll Storm? Because AYO [hey you] – it’s that time, fam.”
John Morrison, the lead attorney representing Gersh, is a Whitefish native and former state auditor. The Southern Poverty Law Center is also part of Gersh’s legal team.
Morrison, whose father is a former Montana Supreme Court judge, said in an interview, “I was raised around the law and the courts and taught that our legal system was where regular people could achieve justice. I’ve spent a lot of my career fighting for rank-and-file Montanans and I’m very proud to be representing Tanya Gersh in this case. She is a very brave woman to bring suit after what she has already been through.”
Morrison said the Montana Constitution makes individual dignity a fundamental right.
“Art. II Sec. 4 is perhaps the strongest anti-discrimination provision in any state constitution,” Morrison said. “While we have not asserted a constitutional cause of action, our Individual Dignity clause shows that treating each other with respect and not attacking each other on the basis of race, religion, gender or other classifications is a deeply rooted Montana value.”
