CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — A Cherokee County Superior Court jury has ruled in favor of a man in his lawsuit over a Facebook post.
James Lyle says in 2011, someone using the pseudonym Dale Butterworth inaccurately posted on Facebook that Lyle had been accused of raping the teenage daughter of Lyle’s then-girlfriend.
“There were people online saying absolutely horrible things about me, saying I was a child molester and rapist,” said Lyle.
Lyle claimed the bogus post was actually made by a man named Lee Martin, who worked for the Tea Party Patriots, as retaliation against Lyle’s then-girlfriend, who quit the political group and joined another one.
“We were able to show the post was most likely made on Tea Party Patriots equipment on behalf of Tea Party Patriots,” said Lyle’s attorney, Jonathan Pope.
The jury ruled in Lyle’s favor in the amount of $833,000.
Lyle’s attorneys hope the ruling sends a message.
“If you’re out there expressing your opinions, you can express them all day long and you’re not violating the Constitution. But when you make a statement of fact that somebody is a child molester, you better be right,” said Lyle’s attorney Matt Maguire.
Channel 2 Action News received a statement on behalf of the Tea Party Patriots: “This litigation has been going on since 2011 and for reasons that will become obvious, we are evaluating our legal options. Since this is ongoing litigation, we will have no further comment on this matter.”
The jury ruled Martin was acting as an agent for the Tea Party Patriots.
“We are exploring all our options at this time. We certainly do not believe that the evidence supported the award by the jury,” said Martin’s attorney Ken Hodges.