On 6 April 2017, Colin Craig filed a $240,000 lawsuit against former employee Jacqueline Stiekema regarding defamatory statements she had allegedly made on a Facebook page and other defamatory publications she had made to a third person. On 29 March 2017 Associate Judge Bell transferred the application to strike out the case to the district court. Craig and blogger Cameron Slater both sued each other for defamation following the 2014 election. The cases were held in May 2017 and Craig represented himself in the four week trial. The Judge reserved his decision.  8 May - 1 June 2017 the Craig v Slater (and Slater v Craig counterclaim) CIV2015-404-1923 was heard in the Auckland High Court before Justice Toogood. Slater was represented by Brian Henry and Craig represented himself. The trial went a week past its scheduled three weeks. Craig said the case came down to credibility and whom the judge believed was telling the truth. Slater sued Craig for alleged defamatory statements in his booklet "Dirty Politics & Hidden Agendas" (2015) and Craig sued Slater for making alleged defamatory statements on his blog. These included that Craig: had sexually harassed Rachel MacGregor; lied about it; and covered it up after settling a sexual harassment hearing in the Human Rights Commission and then the Human Rights Review Tribunal; and that there was a "second woman". It transpired during the trial that Slater had been rung by a barrister that he knew (and whose identity vocation and area of practice he had chosen to keep anonymous) was in fact working for Colin Craig. There was disagreement over phone calls on 24 and 25 June 2015 initiated by the barrister and allegedly by Mr Craig which left Slater with an inference the barrister (a sexual harassment specialist) was representing a "second victim" with whom "Craig was a factor". However, neither the barrister nor Craig ever revealed the conflict of interest nor did Craig correct Slater's inference at any stage leading up to and during most of the trial (the "second woman" was a central factor in both the earlier "Craig v Stringer" and "Williams v Craig" proceedings based on that evidence). Craig instead chose to sue all three parties for this contention which he knew was false yet allowed Slater to infer without correction until the much later trial. The judge reserved his decision on 1 June 2017 to be delivered "as quickly as possible." The Slater trial was the second in a triumvirate of trials central to a cluster of ancillary proceedings involving Craig (in the District Court; in hearings; in tribunals; and with the police; the Privacy Commission and the Electoral Commission all based on independent complaints).