A lawsuit filed against the campaign arm of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus is being allowed to continue in court.
On Friday, Third Judicial District Court Judge Richard Lavery rejected a request from the Freedom Caucus to dismiss a lawsuit filed against it for defamation.
The lawsuit was filed by state Reps. Cody Wylie, R-Rock Springs, and J.T. Larson, R-Rock Springs, over what they said were misleading political mailers and text messages the Freedom Caucus political action committee put out against them during the 2024 campaign cycle. The representatives are being represented by former legislator Clark Stith in the case.
All three were members of the Wyoming Caucus, a group that existed from 2023-2024 as a form of Republican opposition to the Freedom Caucus.
“We are pleased that the court denied the motion to dismiss and will allow Rep. Wylie and Larson’s defamation lawsuit to continue,” Stith told Cowboy State Daily.
Split Decision
Lavery ruled that the legislators’ claims of defamation may have merit and should not be dismissed as the Freedom Caucus had requested. He also rejected the Freedom Caucus’ motion to dismiss the case as a whole.
“The court cannot say the statements at issue are not defamatory in character as a matter of law,” Lavery wrote.
But he also threw out Wylie and Larson’s “false light” claims, an invasion of privacy tort where someone is portrayed in a misleading or untrue way that causes immediate emotional distress. Lavery said the mailers and text messages do not constitute spreading falsehoods about an individual.
When asked about the judge’s decision, Stephen Klein, attorney for the Freedom PAC, replied, “One frivolous claim down, one to go.”
The Freedom Caucus PAC has accused Larson and Wylie of attempting “to punish and censor criticism” of their voting records by filing the lawsuit. They also argued that there is no genuine issue of materially false statements being made.
Lavery rejected these arguments and said the legislators may be eligible for special damage relief.
Both parties presented their cases on Jan. 31 in court.
What’s It About?
The Freedom Caucus’ campaign messaging claimed Wylie and Larson had voted to keep President Donald Trump off the 2024 election ballot.
This was in reference to certain House members’ support of a budget footnote made during the 2024 legislative session that would have prevented Secretary of State Chuck Gray from using state money for out-of-state litigation without specific legislative authority. Gray had several weeks before filed an amicus brief fighting an effort in Colorado to remove Trump’s name from their state ballots.
“A reasonable jury could find a substantial and respectable segment of the community viewed trying to take Trump off the ballot as an illegitimate, reprehensible, un-American attack of the integrity of the electoral process,” Lavery wrote. “It follows that a reasonable jury could find defendant’s communication would tend to prejudice plaintiffs in the eyes of a substantial and respectable segment of the community.”
Wylie and Larson both voted against removing the footnote at least once and never changed their stance. But as a whole, Lavery did not buy the argument that the budget footnote constituted an effort to keep Trump off the ballot.
He pointed out that even Klein described the mailers and texts as equal to imaginative expression or rhetorical hyperbole. The judge also mentioned how in the 1964 landmark defamation lawsuit New York Times v. Sullivan, where the U.S. Supreme Court held that misstating voting records can be considered defamation in certain situations.
The Freedom Caucus also argued that since Wylie and Larson, who both got reelected, spent campaign money working to counteract the claims of the mailers, they can’t say they were defamed. Lavery rejected this point as well.
The case will now move into the discovery phase, which can involve the required release of communications and other documents pertaining to a case.
The legislators have requested a jury trial in the case.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
