Judge moves defamation lawsuit against Blunt, staffers

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A Jackson County judge has split a defamation and wrongful firing lawsuit against Gov. Matt Blunt among four separate state courts.

Former aide Scott Eckersley sued Blunt and four past or current staff members claiming he was fired for suggesting that the governor's administration was destroying e-mails in violation of the state's record retention laws. Eckersley also claimed he was defamed when Blunt's administration provided reporters with letters and packets of information defending the firing.

Eckersley's lawsuit originally was filed in Jackson County. But Jackson County Circuit Judge Michael Manners ruled this week that the lawsuit should be split into several parts and moved into different courts.

The wrongful termination case was ordered moved to the Capitol's home in Cole County, because that's were Eckersley was working in the governor's office.

But at issue for the defamation portion was where reporters for The Associated Press, The Kansas City Star, Springfield News-Leader and St. Louis Post-Dispatch read documents given to them unsolicited by the governor's office.

Documents in the packets claimed Eckersley had registered for a "group sex Internet site" and had been questioned by the governor's chief of staff about illegal drug use.

Eckersley's lawsuit denies the charges, calling them "patently false" and "designed to injure, defame and smear."

The judge decided the defamation claims should be heard in Cole County for the materials given to the AP and the Star, in St. Louis for the materials given to the Post-Dispatch and in Ozark County for the materials given to a News-Leader reporter, because that's where he was when he read them.

But Manners' ruling also allows defamation claims against the governor's administration to be heard in Jackson County, because Blunt spoke to reporters there about Eckersley's lawsuit. The ruling did not decide whether the suit should be in the Independence or Kansas City division of the Jackson County court.

An attorney representing Blunt and a spokeswoman for the governor's office did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Springfield lawyer Jeff Bauer, who is representing Eckersley, said Thursday that Manners' decision seemed right and added that Eckersley would move forward with the split-up lawsuit.

"It's going to be separate suits in those different venues over the contents of those letters," he said.

Bauer likened it to two examples of defamation: One in a newspaper article and one in a conversation.

He said that even though the article was read by multiple people in different areas, it's one case of defamation. But spreading a slanderous story to people through several separate conversations creates separate defamation claims based on each conversation.