The Alabama Supreme Court has upheld lower court decisions in a defamation lawsuit filed by former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore and counterclaims against Moore. Moore filed the lawsuit in 2018 in Etowah County over allegations of sexual misconduct that surfaced during his 2017 U.S. Senate campaign. Moore has repeatedly denied the allegations and claimed they were malicious and aimed at undermining his candidacy. The Supreme Court dismissed Moore’s defamation claims against Deborah Wesson Gibson and Richard Hagedorn, as well as Hagedorn’s counterclaims against Moore, his Senate campaign, and others. The court did not issue written opinions, and five justices recused themselves. Moore still has pending defamation cases against Beverly Young Nelson and Tina Turner Johnson. Nelson accused Moore of attacking her in 1977, while Johnson claimed Moore grabbed her buttocks in 1991. Both cases are expected to proceed in Etowah County Circuit Court following the latest decisions. In a separate case in 2022, a Montgomery County jury ruled that Moore’s accuser, Leigh Corfman, did not defame Moore with her sexual abuse allegation, nor did Moore defame Corfman with his denials. Corfman’s claim, the first accusation against Moore, was published in the Washington Post in November 2017. Moore has maintained his innocence throughout the legal proceedings.
Source
Photo credit www.al.com
