8th District School Board representative Jafari being sued for statements made during campaign

Sarah Vogelsong at The Richmonder is reporting that PH “Cruz” Sherman is suing E.J. “Emmett Jay” Jafari for $2 million in damages as well as court costs for what he says are defamatory statements made during the recent 8th District School Board campaign:

Unsuccessful Richmond School Board candidate P.H. “Cruz” Sherman is suing victor E.J. “Emmett Jay” Jafari for defamation over statements Jafari posted on Facebook during his campaign that portrayed Sherman as a “One-Man Crimewave” with an extensive criminal background.

The somewhat under the radar campagn for the School Board seat first got heated when Jafari moved to have Cruz stricken from the ballot on a technicality in mid-October. This was still playing out into December, more than a month after the election.

The statements at the heart of the lawsuit were posted to Jafari’s Facebook in late October (pic HERE), and were refuted by Cruz in a press release in early November.

“Writings about public figures that share matters of public concern, enjoy immunity as constitutionally guaranteed free speech, ” says Jafari in response to our query. “That an article includes a writer’s own observations of and interactions with one of the article’s subjects does not make the comments actionable … and then there’s the matter of taking the article out of context. Other facts and issues exist but we are content to just let legal handle that and let the Court decide the matter – not the press.”