Naturally, Steve Brown was pleased to hear Tuesday that the law firm of Webb, Stuckey and Lindsey plans to drop its libel suit against him.

But for Brown, the battle's not over yet. He fully intends to seek attorney fees so he can pay back the people who contributed to a legal defense fund that was established for Brown by his neighbor, Rob Rothley.

“They never asked for me to pay them back,” Brown said. “I think they appreciated that I'm speaking out on these issues.”

The lawsuit cited a letter Brown wrote in The Citizen questioning whether Jim Webb of Webb, Stuckey and Lindsey should be reappointed as Peachtree City's city attorney. In the letter, Brown stated that Webb was involved in a conflict of interest because he had business dealings with developers who had sued or were suing the city at the time.

The Citizen and its editor-publisher, Cal Beverly, were also sued for publishing the letter, and the law firm also announced Tuesday it was dropping its lawsuit against them.

In a statement from Webb, Stuckey and Lindsey on Tuesday, the firm indicated the lawsuit was dropped because it felt vindicated by a newspaper article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that, the firm says, “revealed the publication of Mr. Brown's letters in The Citizen was politically motivated.”

Brown said no such conspiracy existed. He also said he thought the firm didn't want to go through the process of giving depositions in the case. Brown hopes the firm would voluntarily pay for his legal fees without taking the matter through the court.

The lawsuit was successful, Brown added, in intimidating others.

“People stopped e-mailing me, and they stopped calling me,” Brown said. Even the people who contributed to his legal defense fund did so in cash so checks could not be traced back to them by others, Brown added.

“They were afraid of some type of retribution from city government,” Brown said, adding that he thought the lawsuit was filed to intimidate others.

“With that they truly succeeded, and that's very unfortunate.”

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