Six weeks after the government of Campbell County settled a fired librarian’s lawsuit against it, the private family she also sued in federal court is continuing to fight, a Friday filing in Wyoming’s federal court reveals.
Terri Lesley was fired from her job as Campbell County Public Library System executive director in July 2023.
In September 2023, she sued Hugh, Susan, and Kevin Bennett, who were among her loudest detractors over sexually-graphic and controversial books in kids’ sections in the library.
Wyoming U.S. District Court Judge Alan B. Johnson ruled in April that half of Lesley’s claims against the local family had enough legal merit to advance to the discovery phase of the lawsuit.
The attorneys took witness depositions this fall.
Meanwhile, Lesley sued Campbell County officials in April of this year, alleging she was wronged by the government.
The county settled that case Oct. 8, paying $700,000 to Lesley.
That was not a county-led decision, but was the decision of the county’s insurance provider, which chose to mitigate risk by settling rather than going to trial, Campbell County Commissioner Scott Clem told Cowboy State Daily in a Monday interview.
The Bennetts, rather, are still fighting their case.
They filed a motion of summary judgment Friday, asking Johnson to judge the case early in their favor.
First Amendment Rights
The document says the Bennetts, who complained of Lesley in public meetings, publications, and to local law enforcement, were exercising their First Amendment right.
It says Lesley has failed to show the Bennetts colluded with the government to get her fired.
It juxtaposes Johnson’s earlier finding that Lesley may have a federal discrimination claim with a conflicting ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, and it says Lesley has failed to show the Bennetts acted with class-based animus anyway.
“Terri Lesley was a public figure and government official who placed herself in the forefront of an incredibly divisive issue being debated throughout our country — materials in libraries containing sexual themes and images that are inappropriate for children,” says the motion filed Friday by the Bennetts’ attorney Jeremy D. Bailie of Florida-based Weber, Crabb & Wein.
Lesley was fired by government officials, not the Bennetts, “for her failure to perform in the role as they wished her to perform,” wrote Bailie, who also alleges that Lesley sued the Bennetts in retaliation for their exercise of their First Amendment rights.
The record shows that the Bennetts’ actions were public advocacy, speech and petitioning — all protected acts, says the document.
Hundreds of residents attended public meetings on the library’s controversial operations from 2021-2023, the filing notes.
Drawing from the Bennetts’ depositions, Bailie wrote that Lesley has identified no statements of hostility toward LGBTQ people by Hugh, and no anti-LGBTQ statements by Susan or Kevin.
All three of them stopped waging public campaigns against Lesley more than one year prior to her termination, the document adds.
Denying The Conspiracy
Bailie’s filing asserts that Lesley has failed to show there’s any conspiracy, a key tenet of 42 USC 1985 (3). That’s a portion of the Ku Klux Klan Act under which Lesley is accusing the Bennetts of interfering with systems of law to harm her.
Lesley “admitted she has no evidence — documents, communications or statements — of any agreement between any Bennett and any commissioner or Library Board member,” says Bailie’s filing. “At best, her evidence was that in the small town someone — unnamed — saw one of the Bennetts — unknown — have lunch with one of the board members — unknown.”
Lesley “admitted” that Playboy or Hustler magazine would not be acceptable for the children’s section.
She volunteered to move books from the teen section to the adult section because the content was inappropriate for teens, in 2021, the motion notes.
‘Openly Hostile’
The library board members involved in Lesley’s termination testified via affidavits that they didn’t act pursuant to a conspiracy, and each said there was no LGBTQ animus, “or animus whatsoever,” lurking behind their decision-making.
The library board members who voted for Lesley’s termination said that decision involved her own conduct “withholding information, mismanaging the staff survey, and lack of cooperation,” wrote Bailie, adding that Lesley was poor-performing and “openly hostile to the board that she reported to.”
The filing casts doubt upon whether Lesley suffered emotional distress as she claims, noting that her counseling and documentation of it came in July of this year, after she filed her lawsuit.
The Sex-Change Ruling
Though Johnson read the KKK Act broadly in April, concluding that it can serve plaintiffs who suffered alleged discrimination for advocating for LGBTQ causes, Bailie disputes whether that will hold up in a higher court.
The U.S. Supreme Court decided U.S. v. Skrmetti in June. That’s a significant case upholding Tennessee’s law banning sex-change treatments for kids.
It also narrowed the federal-law mechanisms that can be used when waging sexual-orientation or gender-identity-based discrimination lawsuits.
The U.S. Supreme Court just sent a 2024 case back to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which oversees Johnson’s court, because it didn’t align with that part of Skrmetti, Bailie noted.
Even if Johnson holds that sexual orientation and identity are protected classes under the KKK Act, the motion asserts Lesley has still failed to show the Bennetts “acted with any invidiously discriminatory animus.”
Bailie argued further that Lesley has failed to show how the state violated her rights through the actions of the Bennetts, and that even if the court decides the Bennetts colluded with the state, they should have qualified immunity.
Public Figure
Lastly, Bailie wrote that Lesley is a public figure.
That status makes defamation claims harder to prove.
That same high bar applies for public figures waging emotional damages claims in Wyoming, under a 1991 Wyoming Supreme Court case, wrote Bailie.
Nope, Says Attorney
Azra Taslimi, attorney for Colorado-based firm Rathod Mohamedbhai, which is representing Lesley, told Cowboy State Daily on Monday that the Bennetts’ relating claims that Lesley was a “poor” employee is a deflection.
“I think the defendants are trying to rewrite history, claiming Ms. Lesley was fired because she was a bad employee,” said Taslimi. “This is the first time we’re seeing that (claim).”
Lesley served as library director for years without performance issues before the political climate was inflamed, Taslimi said.
She pointed to the county’s settlement as a sign that Lesley wasn’t a problem employee.
Taslimi contested the Bennetts’ First-Amendment argument.
“Individuals do have First Amendment rights,” she said. “However, what they don’t have the right to do is harass individuals and try to (advance) criminal charges on them.”
As for Lesley moving books prior, Taslimi said that can be part of a librarian’s job, but argued that it doesn’t negate Lesley’s resistance to moving books on other occasions when she found the act unconstitutional.
If moving the books is strictly for age-appropriateness, that’s part of a librarian’s job. If the librarian is being pressured to move them for other content, like racial or LGBTQ themes, that’s not legal, said Taslimi.
Lesley has not yet filed a counter-argument to the Bennetts' motion for summary judgment. The case is ongoing.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
