From yesterday's decision in Scofield v. Guillard, written by Chief Magistrate Judge Raymond E. Patricco (D. Idaho); see here for more on the plaintiff's libel lawsuit (this decision is about the defendant's counterclaims):
This case arises out of the tragic murder of four University of Idaho students in November 2022. Plaintiff Rebecca Scofield is a professor at the University of Idaho. She alleges that she never met the students and was not involved with their murders in any way. Notwithstanding, Plaintiff alleges Defendant Ashley Guillard posted over 100 sensational TikTok videos falsely claiming that she had an inappropriate romantic affair with one of the victims and then ordered the murders to prevent the affair from coming to light. In turn, Plaintiff initiated this action on December 21, 2022 (Dkt. 1), asserting two defamation claims against Defendant. One is premised upon false statements regarding Plaintiff's involvement with the murders themselves. The other premised upon false statements regarding Plaintiff's romantic relationship with one of the murdered students….
Within her Answer and Counterclaims, [the self-represented] Defendant denies that she defamed Plaintiff because the accusations made against Plaintiff in Defendant's TikTok videos are "substantially true." Defendant maintains that she "used her spiritual brain, intuition, spiritual practice, and investigative skills to uncover the truth regarding the murder of the four University of Idaho students; and published her findings on her TikTok social media platform." Relevant here, Defendant also affirmatively asserts 11 counterclaims against both Plaintiff and her legal counsel.
Defendant's counterclaims rely on two premises: (i) Plaintiff "initiated, planned, and executed the murders" of the four University of Idaho students to cover up an affair she had with one of the victims; and (ii) Plaintiff sought to "evade suspicion" for these murders by conspiring with her counsel to file a "frivolous" Complaint with "falsified factual allegations" that (a) supported the defamation claims against Defendant, and (b) deprived Defendant of her constitutional rights. Defendant further asserts that the conspiracy between Plaintiff and her counsel extended beyond the mere filing of Plaintiff's Complaint. It also included Plaintiff's counsel's defamatory statements to the media about Plaintiff's underlying lawsuit against Defendant….
Plaintiff (Scofield) moved to dismiss the counterclaims, and the court agreed:
