ATLANTA — Two Georgia election workers have successfully settled their defamation lawsuit against a Missouri-based conservative website that made false fraud allegations regarding the 2020 presidential election, according to a court filing this week.
The lawsuit targeting a conservative media outlet and its owners has been “resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the parties through a fair and reasonable settlement,” attorneys for Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss announced.
A recent filing in St. Louis City Circuit Court did not disclose the settlement terms but mentioned that actions required by the agreement are to be finalized by March 29. Both parties requested a judge to delay the case until this date, where they expect to seek dismissal.
As of Friday, nearly 70 articles cited as defamatory in the lawsuit were no longer accessible on the conservative website.
The company behind the site had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization; however, a judge dismissed the case in July, determining that the company was solvent and had pursued the bankruptcy filing in bad faith to obstruct Freeman and Moss’s lawsuit.
Freeman and Moss, both Fulton County election workers, initially sued over repeated claims that they illegally introduced suitcases of ballots while serving as ballot counters at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta during November 2020.
In addition to this lawsuit, Freeman and Moss have also taken legal action against several others, stating that they incited false claims regarding election fraud, resulting in threats to their safety.
They aim to enforce a $148 million defamation judgment against one prominent figure for spreading false claims related to ballot fraud.
In a previous agreement, another party settled with Freeman and Moss in 2022, stating that state officials had determined there was no widespread voter fraud by election workers during the 2020 election.
The allegations against Freeman and Moss garnered significant attention on December 3, 2020, when claims surfaced about hidden ballots being counted after election observers were asked to leave the room.
The narrative that “suitcases” of ballots were retrieved from under tables was swiftly debunked, yet the conservative outlet continued to propagate these claims, despite knowing they had been disproven.
In the aftermath of these allegations, Freeman received numerous threats and was forced to relocate for her safety after an FBI assessment found she was not secure at her home. Meanwhile, Moss’s family also faced harassment, with threats directed towards her teenage son.
This situation exemplifies the impact of misinformation on individuals, pushing them into dangerous situations and demanding accountability for false public claims.
