The first of these pages has approximately 500 Facebook followers, according to court documents. The second has two.
According to court filings, Stafford’s lawyers attempted to subpoena Meta to reveal the names of the Facebook page administrators, which Meta refused. In a 98-page filing, Meta cited in part the lack of jurisdiction Ohio judges have over the California company, as well as its immunity under the Communications Decency Act of 1996. The Act gives Meta and other platforms broad immunity from being held liable for content published by other people.
On Feb. 5, Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Judge Angelina Jackson filed a notice of intent to dismiss the suit for failure to state a claim, citing similar court decisions that characterized the actions as “a fishing expedition,” with a deadline of 14 days.
“It is unclear whether Plaintiffs suspected or ascertained that the individuals whom they subpoenaed were the ones posting the anonymous and alleged defamatory statements about them on Facebook or whether they believed these individuals just possessed information that might ultimately lead to the discovery of the anonymous users,” Jackson wrote. “What is clear, upon review of the docket, is that Plaintiffs have taken no affirmative steps to amend the Supplemental Complaint.”
Exactly 14 days later, lawyers for Stafford filed an amended complaint in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court, naming Greene County Democratic Party Chair Kim McCarthy, Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Superintendent Doug Cozad, and four others in the defamation suit.
As of Wednesday, four defendants have formally responded to the subpoena, and all four indicate they “can unequivocally say and will swear before the court” that they do not operate the pages.
Lawyers for Stafford did not respond to questions from the Dayton Daily News asking where they sourced the six names in the amended complaint.
All six defendants have one thing in common, in that they emerged in opposition to Stafford regarding a 2019 ballot issue regarding a levy for Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Schools.
Rob Johnson, one of the defendants, says he has “absolutely no idea” who runs the Facebook pages in question.
“A big issue with the U.S. legal system is that anyone can file a lawsuit against another person, even when there is no evidence that supports the accusations of that lawsuit,” Johnson said. “I can tell you unequivocally, I have nothing to do with these two Facebook pages.”
“This, for me, is a massive escalation of five-plus years of ongoing harassment from this man,“ McCarthy said. ”This is a complete fabrication, a nuisance suit.”
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