AMERICAN FORK — A judge has dismissed a libel lawsuit from a former Utah County official who said his colleagues sought to force him out of office when they released an allegation of harassment against him that was not ultimately sustained.
Greg Graves, a former Utah County commissioner, said his fellow commissioners defamed him when they withheld his name from a report but tied him to the allegation in public statements.
In a Monday order from the bench, 4th District Judge Robert Lunnen sided with the county and the woman who brought the harassment complaint.
Their attorney had argued that Utah law grants government officers immunity from a libel case like Graves’ and his fellow Republican commissioners did nothing wrong in sharing the information in response to requests from reporters under Utah’s open records law.
“One way or the other, the cat was out of the bag that Mr. Graves had been accused of sexual harassment,” said Andrew Morse, an attorney for the county.
Graves’ attorney, Ryan Schriever, sees it differently.
“The chances of an appeal are very good in this case,” Schriever told the Deseret News. “When they went ahead and tied his name to it, even after there was privacy (due to redactions), we feel that did cause him damages. We think it’s important that the courts look at these types of cases.”
Commissioners Nathan Ivie and Bill Lee have maintained they didn’t work together to oust Graves. In December 2017, they voted in his absence to release the report and called for his resignation, along with the county GOP and others.
They made public a version of the investigative report that concluded he was seen as an “explosive” bully but found insufficient evidence to support the allegation of sexual harassment. The employee had reported that Graves rubbed her thigh above the knee during an employee golf outing and told her, “Don’t show it if you don’t want it touched.”
The judge is expected to issue a written order in coming weeks.