A prominent family in Georgia has sued their local grocery clerk for defamation after she made allegations on social media about their involvement in the Capitol insurrection, according to the Washington Post.
Katheryn Cagle and her mother Thelma Cagle had been part of the “core team” that organized busloads of attendees heading from Georgia to DC for the “March to Save America” protest on January 6, which resulted in a breach of the Capitol building and five people’s deaths.
The Cagle’s are public figures in their local community. Katheryn was the former chairwoman of the Pickens County Georgia Republican Party and her father, William Cagle, served one term on the Pickens County Planning Commission that ended in December.
This is how Rayven Goolsby, who works in a local grocery store, recognized Katheryn and Thelma when they posted their DC rally videos on Facebook.
“I thought Kate Cagle [was] on the planning committee, I hope she doesn’t plan to make a career out of planning riots,” Goolsby allegedly wrote on Facebook, the Post reported. In a separate post, she addressed Thelma directly, writing: “Didn’t you attend the insurrection? I am pretty sure you did.”
In another post, Goolsby also allegedly called William a homophobic “loser,” in reference to previous comments he had made on his Facebook account where he called transgender people “FREAKS” and accused them of being able to “make up their mind where to take a leak,” the Post reported.
The Cagle’s are now suing Goolsby for defamation and libel in superior court in Pickens County, Georgia. Their suit claims that the online posts harm their reputation and unfairly associate them with “patently criminal conduct.”
“Our Clients are aggrieved and that is the reason for the suit. It is our Firm and the Cagle’s desire that we can hopefully resolve this in a mutually beneficial and amicable fashion,” David McDonald told The Post.
Goolsby’s attorney, Andrew Fleischman, argued the family was trying to use the lawsuit as a means to intimidate. He added that Goolsby has public interest on her side.
“We shouldn’t be afraid that criticizing an important person in our community could cost us thousands of dollars,” Fleischman said.
*story by Business Insider