A Cobb County woman who complained about conditions at the Atlanta Humane Society was allowed by a judge Thursday to pursue legal action against the agency she claims is trying to muzzle her.

Barbara Harkins is being sued for $225,000 by the Humane Society for statements about alleged problems at the animal shelter she made last year to the media and the Fulton County Commission, which partly funds the Humane Society. The alleged problems included a lack of investigations into animal abuse.

Harkins, a Mableton resident, had asked the court to dismiss the suit on the grounds that the Humane Society was seeking to muzzle her right to free speech.

She contended that the organization had filed a SLAPP (strategic lawsuits against public participation) suit against her to keep her and other former employees from talking about perceived abuses of animals at the Humane Society.

But on Thursday, Cobb Superior Court Judge Conley Ingram told lawyers for both sides to decide what documents they will need from each other to establish whether the society's lawsuit is an infringement on Harkins' free speech rights.

"We have to establish that our client made statements about the [Humane Society] in an area of public interest and concern --- animal cruelty, mismanagement of funds --- and that they were made in furtherance of her right to free speech," said Gerry Weber, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia. The ACLU is representing Harkins.