Sooner State News

A war over words has escalated into a court battle between a billionaire businessman and an Oklahoma think tank.

Chad Richison, president and CEO of Paycom, has sued the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA) for defamation. Richison, an Oklahoma native who founded the online payroll and human resources provider in 1998, wrote a March 22 letter to Gov. Kevin Stitt urging him to show “bold leadership” and craft a plan to protect residents.

Among his suggestions, he advised the governor to: 

“Temporarily suspend personal-touch services in order to adhere to social distancing, which includes but is not limited to hair salons, nail salons, spas and massage parlors.

“Ensure all critical employees to the supply chain are working in safe environments," Richison said. "Coordinate plans with these essential businesses so they know best practices for: social distancing, personal hygiene, shared space and business continuity.

“Innovate how grocery stores operate by providing drive-thru pickup or delivery for all customers and encouraging the use of technology. “Ensure critical supply chain businesses are coordinating with state government to maintain their services while protecting their employees. “Mandate food preparation and other critical portions of the supply chain adhere to newly established uniform standards to prevent transmission of the virus. [And] ban all non-essential travel from Oklahoma airports.”

Ray Carter, director of the OCPA’s Center for Independent Journalism, wrote about the letter in a March 23 blog post.

“Some individuals have called for Stitt to order most businesses to close and have the government control how others operate, including grocery stores. Chad Richison, CEO of Paycom, is among those who have advocated such actions. According to Forbes, Richison’s net worth is $1.6 billion, landing him among the 400 richest individuals in the country. 

“If the actions endorsed by Richison and others like him are enacted, those most likely to lose their jobs have incomes far from that stratosphere. Restaurant servers have been among those hardest hit so far. A Wall Street Journal survey of 34 economists indicated up to 5 million jobs could be lost nationwide this year. Rajeev Dhawan, director of the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University, told the Journal that he expects the job losses will be heavily concentrated among restaurants, hotels, airlines and real estate and that most laid-off workers will be individuals with below-average earnings.”

The lawsuit followed, alleging OCPA “continues to harbor animosity and malice” directed at Richison and Paycom.

The OCPA was founded in 1993 and says its mission is to monitor public matters on behalf of the best interests of Oklahoma families, businesses, children, and taxpayers. It has differed with Richison on some public issues, including taxes.

The lawsuit, filed by Oklahoma City lawyer John P. Falcone, said OCPA’s blog post harmed Paycom.

“Paycom did not advocate for the closure of most businesses,” the lawsuit states. “Instead, Paycom advocated only for the temporary closure of personal-touch service businesses such as spas, hair salons, nail salons, and massage parlors.

“OCPA’s dissemination of the false statements about Paycom has caused and will cause Paycom to suffer damages, including lost revenue and/or remediation expenses to mitigate the damages caused by OCPA’s false statements.

The lawsuit also alleges the blog post “disseminated” an inaccurate report on Richison’s letter and that reached both current clients and potential ones. It says that caused a decline in revenue due to “tortious interference,” a legal term defined for cases in the state by the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals.

“Presently," the suit alleges, "Oklahoma recognizes a tortious interference claim with a contractual or business relationship if the plaintiff can prove (1) the interference was with an existing contractual or business right; (2) such interference was malicious and wrongful; (3) the interference was neither justified, privileged nor excusable; and (4) the interference proximately caused damage. Additionally, the claim is viable only if the [person interfering] is not a party to the contract or business relationship.”

OCPA President Jonathan Small said the think tank was merely doing what Richison did — use its First Amendment rights to free speech.

“OCPA and Chad Richison have engaged in public policy debates," Small said in a statement. "Sometimes our views align, sometimes they do not. Chad Richison continues to exercise his First Amendment rights. It’s a shame he does not respect the First Amendment rights of others. 

“In recent months, Richison, a billionaire, advocated for closure of many businesses while OCPA argued for preserving citizens’ ability to preserve their lives and livelihoods and get the medical care they need and earn a living to provide for their families, especially since society’s most vulnerable are hardest hit by these business closures. If Paycom has lost clients, it is not because OCPA truthfully reported on Richison’s public support and public advocacy for business shutdowns [including through a direct link to Richison’s public letter], but because of the economic consequences of governments following policies similar to those Richison endorsed.”

Small told Sooner State News his group is ready to defend itself in court.

“Our attorneys are preparing our response, including our seeking protection of our First Amendment rights under the state law that prevents frivolous defamation suits, it’s an anti-SLAPP law called the Oklahoma Citizens Participation Act,” he said. “That response should be filed with the court by July 19.

Small said Richison never asked for a correction or a change in language for the post.

“No, Mr. Richison, nor those who disseminated on his behalf his open letter to the governor [which was covered by numerous news outlets] on the most discussed public policy issue in some time, COVID-19, did not reach out to us asking for a correction,” he said. “In fact, Mr. Richison’s assertion in his lawsuit charges that OCPA said he advocated for the closure of most businesses, and our article did not even say that.”

Small said he is unsure why a lawsuit was filed.

“We can’t speak to Mr. Richison’s motives,” he told Sooner State News. “Mr. Richison has previously been highly critical of OCPA both publicly and privately. For example he referred to our supporters and those who espouse our principles as ‘minions,’ charged us with trying to ‘destroy higher education’ and urged the University of Oklahoma board of regents to remove OCPA trustee former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, from OU’s board of regents because of his affiliation with OCPA.”

Small said it is curious that in the lawsuit, Richison alleges his company was damaged — but he has offered a very different report in an April 29 story published in The Oklahoman.

“I’m proud of our excellent first-quarter results and the continued success we are having onboarding new clients,” said Paycom founder and CEO Chad Richison in the story. “Our value proposition has never been stronger and we continue to see increased demand for the Paycom solution. Our Paycom family members have done a great job focusing on delivering world-class service, rapidly developing software enhancements and continuing strong new client adds as we transition through this time period.”

Small added a final thought. 

“One last thing," he said. "What is very odd is that our article referenced Chad Richison’s open letter, and his policy recommendations, we never attributed them to Paycom but yet he is suing us with a Paycom LLC company he uses to sue former Paycom employees, for example.”