Sonya Smallets, another San Francisco employment attorney, called the Fenox case “very unusual.” Nevertheless, the threat of defamation suits can stifle women f

Sonya Smallets, another San Francisco employment attorney, called the Fenox case “very unusual.” Nevertheless, the threat of defamation suits can stifle women from coming forward, even if they have legitimate accusations of sexual harassment, she said. “Obviously you don’t want people to be able to make up things about other people and harm their reputations,” Smallets said, “but there’s also obviously a concern that if you have women who are accusing powerful, wealthy men of sexual harassment, that a defamation lawsuit can have a chilling effect.” This is just a ridiculous and offensive thing to say, and way to end the article, given the circumstances and evidence. It would be akin to commenting on a case with blatant evidence of harassment that "obviously there's a concern that a harassment lawsuit can have a chilling effect on office interpersonal relationships." A situation where a man was blatantly lying to abuse the law and defame a competitor isn't the moment to make the "chilling effect" argument.