Former S.C. Senate District 30 candidate Tim Norwood has filed lawsuit against six Marion County residents he claims defamed his character by circulating misleading and false documents about him during the campaign.
The lawsuit, filed in Marion County in the 12th Circuit Court of Common Pleas, alleges Marion County Councilman John Q. Atkinson Jr., Mary Bethea, Marion City Councilman Jerry Mitchell, Lacy Edwards, Carver Johnson and F.K. Richardson made statements and circulated information intended “to impeach the honesty, integrity, virtue and reputation of Norwood, expose him to public contempt, ridicule, obloquy, and cause him to be shunned or avoided, or to injure him in his business or occupation.”
Specifically, the lawsuit cites a document and attached documents signed and allegedly circulated by the defendants in the lawsuit between Sept. 15-18, about two weeks before the Sept. 28 District 30 Democratic primary.
Before the primary, the Morning News received two copies of the document from residents of District 30 who’d received them by mail. The documents state: “To see the full report, you may write to: Committee to Elect Kent Williams.” In addition, a letter circulated with the documents asks voters to “return to the polls to vote for Kent Williams.” The letter is signed by defendants Edwards, Atkinson, Bethea, Mitchell, Johnson and Richardson.
The document in question said Norwood had a record and more than 30 serious legal actions against him and his companies on record at local courthouses. “How can Norwood question any other candidate’s character?” the document asked.
Furthermore, the letter refer-ed readers to an attached list of 31 alleged lawsuits, judgments, incidents or liens, with a specific dollar amount for each, against Norwood, Tim Norwood Realty World Inc., Tim Norwood Builders Inc. or Norwood Construction Co.
“The document, taken as a whole, implies that each of the listed lawsuits, judgements, incidents or liens is an unsatisfied debt of Tim Norwood or one of his companies that is owed to the listed companies or entities and that such supposedly outstanding lawsuits, judgments, incidents or liens demonstrate the bad character of Tim Norwood,” according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges the information circulated by the defendants was false, defamatory and misleading because “contrary to the clear implication of the document,” all of the listed lawsuits, judgments, incidents and liens were satisfied of record such that none of the debts cited in the document remained outstanding against Norwood or his companies at the time the statement was published.
“The statements made by the defendants in the document were published with actual malice,” the lawsuit said.
“Defendants published the statements with knowledge that the statements were false or with reckless disregard for whether they were false or not.
“The satisfaction of each judgment or claim was of record, just like the judgment or claim was of record, just like the judgment, and could have been located and published, just like the judgments, as part of defendants’ search of public court records.”
Norwood’s lawsuit requests that judgment be entered against the defendants and asks for actual damages, consequential damages, special damages for attorneys fee and other expenses incurred in an effort to mitigate the damage caused by the defendants’ false publication and punitive damages of no less than $50,000.
Bill Rogers, executive director of the South Carolina Press Association, said because Norwood is considered a public figure, the standards required for proving defamation or libel are higher.
“First, he has to prove that the information in question was indeed false. But in addition to that, because he is a political figure, he also has to prove actual malice, which means there was knowledge of the falsity,” Rogers said. “The bar is higher when you’re a political or public figure. It is difficult (to prove defamation), but it’s not impossible. It’s certainly been done before.”
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