State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters claimed Wednesday in a legal response to a defamation lawsuit that he was fulfilling his official duties when he referred to the Bixby Public Schools superintendent as “a clown and a liar” during a press conference and thus should be immune from the lawsuit.
Walters’ attorneys made the filing in Tulsa County District Court. The Bixby superintendent, Rob Miller, sued Walters in August, alleging Walters defamed him and cast him and his district in a false light with comments made after a State Board of Education meeting on July 31. Miller sued Walters in both his personal and professional capacities.
“Plaintiff’s suit against Superintendent Walters is frivolous,” Walters’ attorney, Joel Wohlgemuth, said in his formal response to the lawsuit, claiming Walters is covered by both state and federal law that provides him “well-established immunity.”
“On its face, this suit is a transparent effort to punish Superintendent Walters for exercising his First Amendment rights,” Wohlgemuth wrote in the response.