Victoria Cobb, President
Wednesday, June 26, 2024
Last year, our Founding Freedoms Law Center (FFLC) sued four members of the Goochland School Board on behalf of Board member Angela Allen after they punished her for simply alerting parents of the Board's secret policy of allowing boys in girls' bathrooms. We brought a claim of defamation for untrue and disparaging statements they made about her in a formal censure resolution, both to vindicate her reputation and also to send a clear signal to school boards everywhere that they couldn't seek to silence conservative school board members without consequence.
Fast forward ten months later, and all of those former board members have been completely replaced with new conservative board members, Angela Allen is now the School Board Chair, the new Board has implemented transparency and passed Governor Youngkin's Model Policies to protect girls in private spaces, and now we have a ruling from the Goochland Circuit Court that we believe vindicates Angela and accomplishes what we set out to do.
Critically, the Court sided with us on the most important part of the law we sought to demonstrate: that elected officials can't claim absolute immunity from civil liability for their wrong conduct and speech. Specifically, the Court's opinion provides:
The censure resolution adopted by the board does not appear to the Court to be what could properly be described as an act of legislation, but rather a supervisory or administrative act seemingly aimed at disciplining Ms. Allen. As a result, the Court does not find that the Defendants are entitled to absolute immunity.
This Circuit Court ruling helps set a precedent for holding other local elected officials accountable going forward, as they will know that they can be held liable when their actions break the law or harm others.
The Court, however, ruled against us on the question of defamation. While we disagree, the Court decided – without any explanation – that the statements made against Angela Allen by the former Board members were mere opinions, rather than statements of fact which could be proven true or false.
In light of the Court's ruling, our client Angela Allen had this to say: "I am pleased the Court made it clear that elected officials, like the Defendants in this case, are not insulated from being called to account for retaliatory statements that seek to silence dissent or transparency with citizens. Given the court of public opinion has already indicted some of these Defendants by their failure to be placed back into their positions of trust by the voters, I see no reason to continue to pursue a legal remedy. My primary objective – assuring elected officials may hold candid discussions with the public without fearing retribution by peers – was accomplished."
That is well said, and we could not agree more. Our team was honored to be a part of holding elected officials accountable and standing up to defend someone who sought to bring needed transparency and good governance to our public schools.
If you or someone you know is facing discrimination by the government based on your constitutionally-protected rights of speech, religious exercise, or parental rights, don't hesitate to reach out to the Founding Freedoms Law Center at www.foundingfreedomslaw.org.
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