This month, an Alamance Superior Judge entered an order dismissing the majority of a defamation suit against a Black anti-racist activist, Dejuana Bigelow, and the entirety of a defamation suit against her co-defendant, a white anti-racist activist, Jennifer Love. Ms. Love and Ms. Bigelow are both represented by the UNC Law School Critical Race Lawyering Civil Rights Clinic. This semester, while Professor Erika Wilson is on research leave, Team Emancipate’s Strategic Director Elizabeth Simpson is an adjunct law professor in the Clinic, working with two law students, Christina Hubbard and Nick Hatcher.
The defamation lawsuit arose out of the Black Lives Matter protests of Summer 2020. Ms. Bigelow, a community activist, was a speaker at the March for Justice and Community in Graham, NC on July 11, 2020. The plaintiff, Jessica Shoffner, was a white nurse at Alamance Regional Medical Center, and she attended the counter-protest at that site, calling for the preservation of the Confederate Monument in front of the Alamance County courthouse. Witnesses allege that Ms. Shoffner was overheard making certain racist comments, which Ms. Shoffner denies. Later, many people found her profile on Facebook, where she had posted a variety of remarks about the Black Lives Matter movement that many readers found to be derogatory and unethical.
On July 13, 2020, Ms. Bigelow posted about these incidents on her Facebook page, and urged the public to contact the hospital where Ms. Shoffner worked to let them know about her alleged conduct. Ms. Love, a fellow nurse, did contact the hospital. Ms. Shoffner sued both of them, plus three other people, for defamation. The other three defendants were dismissed from the lawsuit at an earlier date.
At the hearing on November 16, 2022, Christina, Nick, and Elizabeth argued motions for summary judgment. The court entered an order granting summary judgment to Ms. Love and granting summary judgment in part to Ms. Bigelow. The Clinic expects a jury trial for one remaining claim in 2023.