A "victory," says South Jordan's Janalee Tobias, though neither she nor co-defendant Judy Feld will see a penny of the settlement. Instead, the cash will help pay off a legal tab that reached upward of $400,000.

"To go to trial, it would have taken another $100,000," an emotional Tobias said Friday. "We ran out of money. That's basically it."

In 1998, Anderson Development filed a $1.7 million lawsuit against the women, alleging they attempted to derail the construction of a large office complex on Jordan River bottomland. The suit highlighted the residents' unsuccessful attempt to dissuade a South Jordan landowner from selling to Anderson.

The pair filed a courteraction, calling the developer's action a SLAPP - Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation - that, until this week, slogged on for years.

Tobias says she would have preferred to face a jury, but notes the settlement seems to vindicate her First Amendment rights.

"You have to pry my free speech from my cold, dead voice box," said Tobias, who also founded Women Against Gun Control.

Michael Hutchings, a former 3rd District judge who represents Anderson Development, refuses to characterize the case as a SLAPP, and said the company was "worn out" by the legal "odyssey" and consumed by the recent purchase of Geneva Steel.

"We knew it was going to cost us more than $50,000 to try the case," he said. "We made a business decision that was in everybody's interest: to end it once and for all."

Neither party admits liability in the settlement, which also waives confidentiality. The latter became an issue for the outspoken Tobias, muzzled from the news media for years, who maintains she and her family felt "stalked" by Anderson and lived in constant fear of legal retribution.

Tobias says she spent thousands of hours responding to queries about her positions on gun rights, open space, even her sex life. To pay legal bills, she refinanced her house and drove a beat-up 1989 Acura Integra. Over the life of the legal fight, now-Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson represented the women for free while working as a civil-rights attorney.

"This is the first time I've been able to give an interview and not be afraid," she said through tears. "For nine years, they tormented me beyond belief. It's been a nightmare."

The case, along with a suit against Seven Peaks in Provo, was considered a precursor to a law enacted by the Legislature in 2001 to protect people from SLAPPs.

In 1991, the U.S. Supreme Court set the standard for managing SLAPPs. The nine justices ruled that as long as a defendant's activities are aimed at influencing some governmental action, they are protected by the petition clause of the First Amendment.

In June, the Utah Supreme Court issued a split decision that stripped Anderson Development of two of three claims, which Hutchings concedes added "more finality."

Tobias and Feld "had their victory and didn't need to go any further," Douglas Parry, one of their attorneys, said about the high court action.

Hutchings insists no animosity exists between Anderson and the two women, adding if his team prevailed in a jury trial it possibly could plunge Tobias and Feld into bankruptcy.

"We didn't want to do that," he said. "We hope the settlement helps everybody move on."

For her part, Tobias sounds ready to resume her role as an activist.

"They portrayed me as a stupid stay-at-home housewife that likes to protest things," Tobias said. "I don't have a million dollars, but I have a voice."

djensen@sltrib.com