United Federation of Churches LLC v. Johnson et al

United Federation of Churches LLC v. Johnson et al
Filing Date	4/3/2020
Original Jurisdiction	US District Court for the Western District of Washington
Plaintiff	United Federation of Churches LLC
Defendant	David Alan Johnson, Nathan Sullivan, Leah Fishbaugh, Mickey Joshua Powell (formerly Mickey Meehan)
Intervenor	N/A
State	Washington
Case#	2:20-cv-00509
Original Result	Dismissed
First Appeal	Ongoing
Second Appeal	N/A
Final Result	N/A

United Federation of Churches LLC v. Johnson et al is an ongoing federal court case filed April 3, 2020, by the for-profit corporation United Federation of Churches LLC d/b/a/ "The Satanic Temple" against four former members of the religion The Satanic Temple who had previously been members of the Seattle and Washington State local chapter.

The defendants have characterized the case as an example of a SLAPP or "Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation", an opinion shared by other legal analysts who have reviewed the suit and observers who have seen the Temple's subsequent legal action and threats against other critics. The Satanic Temple and its supporters dispute this characterization, considering it defamation they are willing to sue over, which they have followed through on at least twice.

In January 2023, the defendants won the case at the federal district court level with a final dismissal there, and as of February 2023, TST is appealing it in the Ninth Circuit while announcing they plan to file a new case about the same matter in Washington State court as well.

District Court

Docket for Federal District Court via CourtListener

U.S. District Judge Richard Jones dismissed the original complaint on Feb. 26, 2021, but allowed The Satanic Temple to refile on all but one of the initial claims (defamation).

The Plaintiff filed a motion for reconsideration on the defamation claim and cyberpiracy claim dismissal in March 2021, which was denied and the dismissal reaffirmed in April 2022. The Plaintiff also amended their complaint twice, first in May 2021 then again in June 2021 after being informed that the Facebook page the Temple was demanding returned had been in TST's possession since May 2020. The Defendants made motions to dismiss the case for each of these complaints, and in April 2022, the Judge Jones granted the operative motion in part with leave to amend for several of the dismissed complaints.

However, The Satanic Temple did not amend their complaint for this third time by the deadline given, and in May 2022, the defendants made a motion to dismiss the case for lack of federal jurisdiction on the surviving claims. While working on his reply to this motion, TST lead counsel Matt Kezhaya went onto Reddit for an "Ask Me Anything" about his sanctioning in an unrelated case. In that, Kezhaya did address the Johnson case several times, stating in the original version of his post:

I will not answer any questions related to the idiots that call themselves “QueerSatanic,” or their idiot-conspiracy theories. My only comment on that topic is: I can’t believe you morons have spent more than $80,000 fighting to keep TST’s Facebook page. You are pathetic. You have no concept of civil liberties, or what is at stake by the ever-encroaching theocracy. Your lawyer is a gentleman and a scholar. I hope he squeezes every last penny from you living corpses, and anyone that gives you the time of day.

Despite acknowledging it would be unwise to talk about an ongoing lawsuit, Kezhaya went on to elaborate on his strategy in the case in response to several people's questions, stating:

I wanted some federal statutes to apply because that would maximize TST’s damages, would keep us in Federal court (as opposed to State court), and provided the option to collect attorney’s fees for having to litigate this.

And writing in part:

All three surviving claims are questions of Washington State law, not Federal law. Defendants have moved for dismissal from Federal Court because, they argue, TST cannot show that there is an “amount in controversy” of at least $75,000 (which is required for Federal jurisdiction). I have announced resistance to the motion. I need to come up with a credible justification that it is not-impossible a jury could legally award at least $75,000 in damages. Since punitive damages are on the table, that really means I really only need to justify $12,500 in out-of-pocket damages. Punitive damages can be up to 6x compensatory damages (out-of-pocket losses). I’ve been mired in Belle Plaine since they filed the motion, so I haven’t yet had an opportunity to evaluate the damages.

In June 2022, this material was then included by the Defendants in a response regarding the motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

While waiting for the judge to rule on the motion to dismiss for lack of federal jurisdiction, on November 23, 2022, The Satanic Temple submitted a motion for a preliminary injunction on another Facebook page: Evergreen Memes for Queer Satanic Fiends. This was an unorthodox legal strategy both because it came two and a half years into the case rather than at the beginning as expected of a preliminary injunction and also because TST lead counsel had before filing been informed of and shown evidence that local representatives of The Satanic Temple had relinquished claims over that very social media page, both in writing and publicly in March 14-15, 2020, before the lawsuit ever began.

TST Washington Media Liaison Paul M. Case ("Tarkus Claypool") sent an email March 14, 2020, with the subject line “Evergreen Memes for Queer Satanic Fiends”, saying:

I saw that you made some changes to the TST WA State Allies FB group. I just wanted to let you know that it’s yours free and clear and we’ve no desire to claim it. You and ADJ built it and have done a great job doing so. I’m confident you’ll both continue doing awesome work.

Sorry the way things panned out, and I do mean all of it. I wish you and your family well, and respect your need to fight the fight your way.

Rock on,

-Tarkus Claypool Media Liaison, The Satanic Temple of Washington (he/him)

The next day, in a March 15, 2020 online town hall meeting via Zoom, Media Liaison Case/Tarkus Claypool again publicly reiterated in front of TST-WA members, including TST Chapter Head, Leah Garvais ("Siri Sanguine"), that TST-WA had no interest in claiming the Memes Page:

I do want to say that we’re not going to, you know, ask Lenore to give the page back in any way. I wish them well, and I hope that they continue growing that and make it a great success. Because they’re going to fight their fight, their way. And so, let them do what they want to, and I wish them well, because both Lenore and ADJ [Johnson] did a wonderful job in the roles that they had. It just wasn’t within the TST guidelines that we are beholden to. So I want to give them due credit, and just you know, wish them well with what they’re going to plan to do with it in the future.

Despite having access to this information since before the beginning of litigation, and being made aware explicitly in June 2022, The Satanic Temple continued to repeat the assertion in and outside of court that a Facebook comment afterward by a third person, Nathan Sullivan — referencing this change in administrator rights by others in regards to a Facebook page he'd never had access to — was an admission of a crime.

On Jan. 6, 2023, Judge Jones granted the motion to dismiss the case for lack of federal jurisdiction, denying the Plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction at the same time.

On Jan. 24, 2023, The Satanic Temple notified the court they intended to appeal their federal district court loss to the Ninth Circuit and subsequently stated they planned to re-file their remaining claims in Washington State court as well.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Docket for Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit via CourtListener

[Under construction]