Lawsuit against Observer dismissed
A Washington County judge threw out a civil suit against the Observer-Reporter by a former state representative.
President Judge Katherine B. Emery on Thursday dismissed a complaint filed by attorney Jesse White of Cecil Township against Observer Publishing Co.
The company was among the defendants in four separate lawsuits that White filed in April 2015 in which he accused various people and media outlets of defaming him.
White is representing himself in the civil cases. Emery wrote in her five-page opinion that, under the statute of limitations, White had just one year from when the Observer-Reporter published an article bearing a headline he alleged was defamatory to initiate action against the newspaper. The story in question was published April 29, 2011, but White alleged other individuals distributed it in 2014 when he lost a bid to keep his House seat.
Other defendants in the lawsuits initiated by White, a Democratic candidate for representative of the 46th legislative district this year, include KDKA AM/CBS Pittsburgh; television and radio personality Marty Griffin; Washington attorney Charles Kurowski; Cecil Township Supervisor Thomas Casciola, White’s opponent in the 2014 primary; Darlene Barni; Judy Bowser; Janice Gibbs; Merl Williams; the Facebook group Concerned Citizens of the 46th District; and Donald Roessler.
Emery also barred Barni from serving Automattic, a San Francisco web development company, with a subpoena to obtain records related to a WordPress blog account. Barni alleged White was involved in posting on the account, and she planned to use the records in a counterclaim accusing him of defamation.
Emery wrote in her order barring the subpoena that the records Barni sought weren’t relevant to White’s complaint.