UPDATE: Roy Moore’s Lawyers Hit Back, File Motion to Dismiss Absurd Defamation Claim
Peter D'Abrosca
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Judge Roy S. Moore’s attorneys are going on the offensive, this time fighting an absurd claim of defamation made by Leigh Corfman, the woman who accused him of sexual misconduct during his 2017 run for U.S. Senate.
After denying Corfman’s sexual misconduct claims against him, saying that they were untrue, Corfman’s legal team had the gall to file a defamation suit against Moore for the denial. Now, Moore’s team says that the suit must be tossed for failure to state an actionable claim.
“If Corfman is correct that the mere denial of defamatory accusations is itself defamation, then accusers of any stripe may with confidence hurl accusations of wrongdoing against helpless targets who will be cowed into silence at the prospect of having to defend a lawsuit for merely saying it didn’t happen,” the motion said.
Moore’s lawyers are arguing that denial of an allegation does not, on its face, equal defamation.
“Each statement attributed to Judge Moore in Leigh Corfman’s complaint expresses a single uniform message: Judge Moore is innocent of having engaged in sexual misconduct with Corfman. Unlike what she has alleged against him, Judge Moore has laid no accusation of wrongdoing against Corfman,” the motion continued. “He has merely denied the truth of her accusations and sought to defend his reputation against her attacks on his character. For simply defending his good name against Corfman’s accusations, Judge Moore is now the defendant in a defamation action.”
Johnny Davis, a Constitutional attorney from Alabama told Big League Politics that it is obvious that Corfman failed to state an actionable claim in her defamation suit against Moore.
“Under Common Law and the law of Alabama, you have the basic right to deny any public allegation against you and you are privileged against any claim of slander,” he said.
“Corfman also sued the various members of Moore’s campaign who defended him and pointed out the various problems with the accusations,” Davis continued. “They did not call her ugly names or seek to destroy her reputation they were exercising their basic first amendment right to debate a public topic.”
Davis called the allegation of defamation “flat frivolous.”
This motion to dismiss is part of a much larger legal action by Moore. He is suing all of his accusers, primarily Corfman who he says falsely accused him of sexual misconduct from when she was a teenager, and also a Democratic PAC who ran wild with accusations that he had been banned from a mall for predatory behavior. Big League Politics exclusively reported that Moore also plans to sue The New Yorker, who published the latter claim.
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