One key portion of Jane Roe’s defamation case against Paige Patterson and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary will go to trial, according to the latest filings in the federal case.
In February, the Texas Supreme Court ruled on two questions of clarification asked by the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Having clarified those points, the Fifth Circuit vacated an earlier ruling and sent what remains of the case back to U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
A status conference has been scheduled for May 22 at 1:30 p.m. at the United States Courthouse in Plano, Texas.
Scott Colter
Court filings summarize the claims remaining: “Jane Roe alleges that she was sexually assaulted by a fellow student at Southwestern Baptist Seminary. She sued the seminary and its president Leighton Patterson for, among other things, defamation. She alleged, for example, that Patterson supplied defamatory statements that were used in a letter to the seminary’s board of trustees.
“We certified two questions to the Supreme Court of Texas: “1. Can a person who supplies defamatory material to another for publication be liable for defamation? 2. If so, can a defamation plaintiff survive summary judgment by presenting evidence that a defendant was involved in preparing a defamatory publication, without identifying any specific statements made by the defendant?
“The Supreme Court of Texas answered ‘yes’ to both certified questions. Accordingly, we vacate the judgment of the district court with respect to Roe’s defamation claim and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
In this twisting and turning legal journey that has gone on for years now — Southwestern is on its second president since Patterson was fired in part over this matter — the finish line appears in sight. Either the parties will settle out of court — which they have declined to do before — or there will be a public trial in Plano, Texas.
While other claims originally brought by Roe have been dismissed along the way, what remains is her claim that Patterson and the seminary defamed her through a letter created by Scott Colter, who was still a seminary employee after Patterson’s firing. Roe claims Patterson fed defamatory information to Colter, who then produced a letter to a group of donors and trustees.
That “donor letter,” as the court documents call it, is the potential smoking gun tying Patterson — no longer a seminary employee covered by its liability insurance — to the alleged defamation in the letter. Colter, who was still a seminary employee, was the alleged conduit for the defamation. A key question is whether he was acting in his official capacity as a seminary administrator.
It is unclear how much the seminary may be held liable for these actions — assuming they are found to be defamatory — but it is increasingly clear Patterson could be personally liable if the letter is found to be defamatory.
Colter now leads a conservative nonprofit called The Danbury Institute that has ties to Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council and Patterson.
Southwestern Seminary, located in Fort Worth, Texas, is one of six seminaries affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.
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