On October 6, 2025, Todd McMurtry and Patrick Grote started a five-day jury trial in Warren County Ohio. The case involved a dispute between two neighbors which escalated from an argument over a driveway into a false and defamatory website accusing the Plaintiffs of colluding with Mason officials and Warren County law enforcement to extort money from the Defendant. Defendant also made a number of Facebook posts repeating those claims and linking them to his defamatory website. The website alleged that Plaintiffs used their prior attorney to have the Defendant improperly arrested and convicted of crimes in Warren County, Ohio in order to extort $54,000.00 from the Defendant. The Defendant also alleged that Plaintiffs engaged in widespread perjury in furtherance of their scheme.
Over the course of the five-day trial, Grote and McMurtry called nearly a dozen witnesses to the stand to explain that not only were the accusations on the website and in the Facebook posts false, but they had also caused one of the Plaintiffs to suffer from severe PTSD. As well, the Plaintiffs called Kent Campbell from ReputationX to testify to the distribution of the posts and resulting damage. They called the Defendant to the stand and asked him to explain the conspiracy to the Jury in his own words. He could not. In closing argument, Grote pointed out the absurdity of the alleged conspiracy and argued that the perjury claims boiled down to a question of whom the jury believed. After deliberating for roughly four hours, the Jury returned a verdict of $1,500,000.00 in favor of the Plaintiffs for their defamation claim.
In the punitive damages phase of the trial, the Jury heard arguments on whether the Defendant had been sufficiently punished for his conduct. Grote argued that he had not, requesting that the Jury award $2,000,000.00 plus attorney’s fees in punitive damages to deter the Defendant from similar future acts. The Jury deliberated for less than 30 minutes on punitive damages, returning a verdict of $2,500,000.00 plus attorney’s fees in favor of Plaintiffs. The highest demand from Plaintiffs prior to trial had been $1,500,000.00.
Every member of the jury had a college education. It was composed of five men and three women. They voted unanimously to find the Defendant liable for defamation and found that the Defendant had posted the comments with actual malice.