Columbus Dispatch (Ohio)


July 7, 1994, THURSDAY


U.S. JUDGE RULES CASEY CAN'T BE SUED FOR SLANDER

BYLINE: Randall Edwards; Dispatch Staff Reporter

SECTION: NEWS LOCAL & NATIONAL; Pg. 5C

LENGTH: 308 words

Former county official Terry Casey can't be sued for slander for calling a man a liar because the man, indeed, was being untruthful, a federal judge ruled yesterday.

 

U.S. District Judge Joseph P. Kinneary granted a motion for summary judgment in favor of Casey, a former member of the Franklin County Board of Elections.

Gary L. Greenhalgh, an executive of Microvote Corp. of Indianapolis, sued after Casey allegedly called him a liar, using a phrase that also included an epithet.

 

Casey supposedly made the statement as he observed Greenhalgh giving a deposition in a different case, in which Greenhalgh and Microvote sued Casey and other Franklin County officials over the awarding of an electronic voting machine contract. In that case, the remaining claims against county officials were dismissed last week by another judge.

 

''Casey argues that, if he did make the offending statement, the evidence indicates that the description was true, and truth is an absolute defense to slander cases,'' Kinneary said.

 

Greenhalgh had been untruthful, Kinneary said, in a statement he signed as part of a lawsuit related to the voting machine case. In the statement, Greenhalgh had said he had been a presidentially appointed member of the Federal Elections Commission.

 

He later admitted that wasn't true, Kinneary said.

 

As for the epithet, Kinneary dismissed it as ''mere name-calling.''

 

Greenhalgh yesterday said he has not seen the decision and declined comment.

 

Casey said the lawsuit was frivolous. ''It's sad that they have wasted a lot of money and time filing lawsuits,'' Casey said. He added that the lawsuit was the fifth legal action that Microvote and its executives have lost against the county.

 

The lawsuit was filed to harass county officials, said Assistant County Prosecutor Harland Hale, who represented Casey.