Relationship may be troublesome. What in the event you get stood up? What in case you are not suitable? What in the event you get a pretend cellphone quantity?
After which there may be the case of Stewart Lucas Murrey, who sued a bunch of ladies after they talked about him in a non-public Fb group, warning others about his unhealthy habits on relationship apps.
The lawsuit names as defendants 10 girls, however a Los Angeles superior court docket decide not too long ago tossed out the go well with towards one. Murrey vows to pursue the authorized squabble.
Murrey, a Santa Monica resident, mentioned his social standing took successful due to the feedback made by girls whom he claims to have met by way of relationship apps. His June 2023 lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Courtroom, accused the ladies of defamation and seeks $2 million in damages. He claims sex-based discrimination as a result of he couldn’t be part of the Fb group to reply to the claims made towards him and alleges a civil conspiracy.
Murrey mentioned he was labeled a assassin, and the ladies accused him of getting a sexually transmitted an infection, in line with his grievance.
On Monday, Choose Gregory Keosian dismissed Murrey’s lawsuit towards one lady after she filed an anti-SLAPP movement, which targets lawsuits that search to censor, intimidate and silence critics.
Murrey’s lawsuit is centered across the Fb group “Are we relationship the identical man? — Los Angeles.” The group has iterations throughout the US. The primary began in 2022, in line with the web journal Glamour, serving as a “whisper community” to assist girls navigate the relationship scene of their cities. The Los Angeles group was not created particularly to debate Murrey, however he was the topic of a message thread, in line with court docket data.
Ladies on the Los Angeles-centered Fb group shared in a submit what they described as destructive experiences with Murrey, in line with a GoFundMe marketing campaign began by the defendants to pay authorized charges.
One lady shared a narrative about an alternate she allegedly had with Murrey after the 2 matched on the Tinder app. He insisted on assembly her that night, however she was busy, in line with a screenshot of her remark. Murrey allegedly discovered her Instagram web page and tracked her down at a Beverly Hills resort bar, the place she was having a enterprise assembly.
One other lady, Vanessa Valdes, threatened to report Murrey when he allegedly insulted her in a message dialog on the relationship app Hinge, in line with a collection of screenshots shared in her anti-SLAPP movement.
“I’m subpoenaing you’re (sic) fool ‘report’ and presumably suing you for defamation,” Murrey wrote in response, in line with screenshots produced for the anti-SLAPP movement.
“By the best way, actual first rate girls love me lol,” Murrey added.
Greater than 50 girls wrote about him within the personal Fb group and had been labeled co-conspirators in a “large-scale conspiracy to create a pretend on-line social consensus,” in line with Murrey’s lawsuit.
Keosian dismissed all claims towards Valdes throughout a listening to Monday on her anti-SLAPP movement and located no proof of a conspiracy. Authorized consultants say it’s possible the opposite named events within the lawsuit could have comparable success.
Valdes’ posts “concerned a matter of public curiosity: girls’s safety towards male violence and harassment,” Keosian wrote in his ruling. In a single message posted to the Fb group, Valdes wrote, “I’m so glad we’re defending one another.”
“Simply feels actually good to be dismissed from all counts — it wasn’t simply the 2 counts of defamation, however all 11 counts he filed towards me,” Valdes informed KTLA after the listening to.
Murrey posted his response to Monday’s ruling on a blockchain social media platform and on his private web site. He claimed he didn’t know Valdes except for their one interplay on the Hinge app and referred to as her a cyberbully who shared his private data on-line.
“This habits shouldn’t be normalized and I’m difficult each particular person of their numerous roles,” Murrey mentioned, promising to pursue his authorized case.
This isn’t the primary time Murrey has taken authorized motion to accuse a lady of inflicting him emotional misery. In 2019, he sued a lady he met on Tinder, making comparable claims of defamation.
Murrey represented himself in his newest lawsuit. A number of different named defendants have upcoming anti-SLAPP hearings within the case, and Murrey could have a chance to enchantment the court docket’s current ruling.
Malpractice legal professional Frances O’Meara, who isn’t affiliated with Murrey’s lawsuit, mentioned that in an anti-SLAPP movement, the court docket should first take into account if an individual is being sued whereas exercising their proper to free speech. If that’s the case, then the burden shifts again to the particular person submitting the lawsuit, and the query turns into whether or not the declare has minimal advantage to proceed.
California was the primary state to move an anti-SLAPP legislation, in 1992, to focus on lawsuits that abuse the judicial system.
“The statute then expanded to conditions of individuals suing simply to close different individuals down after they definitely have a proper to talk,” O’Meara mentioned.
Anytime individuals say one thing on the web, they put themselves prone to being sued, mentioned legal professional Jeffrey Lewis, who isn’t affiliated with the Murrey case.
As a way to reach his defamation lawsuit, Murrey would have needed to show that the statements made about him had been false and that he suffered damages, Lewis mentioned.
“Defamation lawsuits are actually laborious, not like going to small claims over a breach-of-contract case, or any person owes you cash,” Lewis mentioned. “Folks get sued on a regular basis for saying issues on Fb, however a bunch of ladies posting a couple of relationship expertise with one man, and the one man deciding to reply with a lawsuit? It’s very uncommon.”
