The worst SLAPP we’ve ever seen

In 2019 the Leighton Associates blogsite was born of SLAPPs, but over time, we settled for simply blogging on interesting employment cases, mostly in New Zealand.  Kind of like what mainstream media do, but being a specialist blogsite we are unashamedly technical.

We also followed the UK Post Office Scandal, even though the falsely prosecuted subpostmasters were technically in a franchise relationship with the parent company Post Office Ltd, not an employment one.

One of our oldest local stories is a SLAPP (strategic litigation against public participation) that was brought by a Council against an employment advocate in early 2021 and an appeal (challenge) was heard in the Employment Court last week.  Whistleblower Allan Halse was dismissed by Hamilton City Council in January 2014; he filed a grievance claim which settled a month later.  Media reported on this at the time, including the fact that Halse was in the process setting up shop as a lay employment advocate for bullied workers, which he continues to do to this day at the age of 74.

In early 2023 Halse was found by the Employment Relations Authority (similar to the UK’s Employment Tribunal) to have breached the settlement agreement for the heinous acts of disclosing the existence of the settlement agreement (which media already did in 2014 without incident) and disparaging the Council, along the lines of it having a workplace bullying problem.  He was ordered to pay $9,000 (£4,000).

Precious aren’t they?  But at least we can laugh about it, including the apparent generosity of Hamilton ratepayers who have funded this action to the tune of $200,000.  And if you can laugh about it too, readers, then we’ve done our job.

But this next example is not funny – it’s nausea inducing.

Rapid Relief Team v Bawtinheimer

In January 2025 I appeared on a Canada-hosted podcast, which I won’t link back to because there is currently a matter before the Employment Relations Authority, related to what we were discussing on the podcast – a workplace fatality (which mainstream media had already reported on).  The Estate is suing the former employer. 

The podcast hosts were Cheryl Bawtinheimer, and Richard Marsh, a Briton living in Canada. 

Bawtinheimer, 51, recently revealed that she has been sexually abused and trafficked as a child.  She left the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC, formerly known as Exclusive Brethren) at 17, which meant that she lost all contact with her family on the inside; “withdrawing from” or shunning ex-members is a quaint habit with these folk. 

Bawtinheimer describes PBCC as a cult and is outspoken in her criticism of its practices, mostly through her Get A Life podcast.  Her network supports others who leave the PBCC community.

In late 2025 Bawtinheimer’s husband Curtis doorstepped Alan Drever, a volunteer with Rapid Relief Team, a registered charity associated with PBCC.   Drever was recorded making what appears to be a confession to sexually abusing and trafficking Bawtinheimer in the 1980s, including “tell Cheryl I’m sorry” before abruptly retreating inside the house.  Drever has so far refused to co-operate with RCMP, and no charges have yet been laid.

In December 2025 Rapid Relief Team, according to Bawtinheimer’s Wikipedia page, “filed a federal copyright infringement lawsuit against Bawtinheimer in [a California] District Court.  The lawsuit alleges that Bawtinheimer intentionally infringed on the RRT’s copyrighted stylized bird logo in her YouTube videos.”

That claim would normally be laughed out any Californian court, but as the lawsuit has been characterised as a SLAPP to silence Bawtinheimer’s whistleblowing, RRT almost certainly don’t expect to win but instead seek to cause fear, distress and legal costs.

Apparently PBCC doesn’t like mainstream media either.

Tristam Price, Editor since 2022