Louisiana Voice

I suppose the lesson might be that you just don’t mess with a quiet librarian who has the gumption to stand for what she believes and to fight like hell for her principles.

Mike Lunsford should probably crawl off in a corner somewhere now and lick his wounds.

In a unanimous 7-0 decision the LOUISIANA SUPREME COUT denied an application for a Writ of Certiorari by Lunsford and his crusading Citizens for a New Louisiana.

Simply put, that means Livingston Parish school librarian Amanda Jones won a major battle in her ongoing lawsuit against Lunsford, Citizens for a New Louisiana and Livingston Parish resident Ryan Thames.

The state high court’s decision affirms a December 2024 decision by the FIRST CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEAL that had overturned a lower court’s decision to throw out Jones’s defamation lawsuit in which she sought only $1 in damages and an apology after she claimed she was accused in an extensive social media campaign of promoting “erotic and pornographic material to children and teaching them to perform sexual acts.”

The three defendants filed a motion to strike her petition, a motion granted by the trial court, which also ordered Jones to pay attorney fees of $12,500 to Lunsford and Citizens for a New Louisiana and $13,000 for Thames’s attorney fees.

She appealed that decision but the appeals court in January 2024 said her appeal was not filed timely. After losing that appeal, she took writs to the State Supreme Court which on Dec. 27, 2024, vacated the court of appeal decision and directed the lower court to take up the case again.

Lunsford, Thames and Louisiana Citizens for a Better Louisiana then filed their own Writ of Certiorari application to the Supreme Court.

A Writ of Certiorari orders a lower court to forward all documents in a case it has heard to the higher court for review. While this is most commonly used by the U.S. Supreme Court, other courts, such as the U.S. Court of Appeals, state supreme courts, and state courts of appeal may issue such a writ.

Simply put, the Supreme Court decision nullifies the attorney fees assessed against Jones and in fact, attorney fees and court costs will now be owed her by the defendants. She will now have her defamation case proceed to be tried on its merits.

When contacted about the decision, handed down just today (Jan. 10), she had not seen it nor had she discussed it with her attorney.

But if you happen to think THAT LIBRARIAN might be a pushover for the likes of Lunsford, ou may want to readjust your thinking because a pushover she ain’t.