PITTSBURGH – A Pittsburgh man alleges that friends of his estranged wife organized an online fundraiser seeking domestic violence assistance in arguing that he was abusing his wife and children, when he counters those claims were meritless.
John Bout filed suit in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on March 8 versus Jennifer Lybarger and Roger Lybarger. All parties are of Pittsburgh.
“On Jan. 6, 2021, plaintiff John Bout was notified by his sister, Shnesha Bout, and his aunt Carol Celani, via telephone call, regarding a ‘GoFundMe’ web page which had been created by defendant, Jennifer Lybarger, as ‘organizer’, to attempt to fundraise on behalf of Mr. Bout’s estranged wife and children,” the suit states.
“The original GoFundMe page, organized by defendant, Jennifer Lybarger, was seeking ‘domestic violence assistance’, on behalf of John Bout’s estranged wife, implying that plaintiff, John Bout, was allegedly abusing his estranged wife and children, despite there being zero merit to these claims.”
The original GoFundMe page, which was linked for public viewing to Facebook, did not specifically list or name plaintiff as an actor or perpetrator of domestic violence, however, the suit says the page identified the entire Bout family with great specificity.
During its operation, the fundraiser generated approximately $6,700.
Bout, an administrator in the Lawrence County Children Youth & Families agency, was then made aware of the online fundraiser and was the subject of mailings sent to his employer and numerous other Lawrence County employees, allegedly by the defendants, demanding his firing.
“Defendants have been publishing these blatant, malicious and reckless falsities to potentially hundreds or even thousands of recipients, including but not limited to, Mr. Bout’s family, friends, employer and co-workers, as well as the hundreds or thousands of Facebook connections to defendants, the gravity of which is not currently known by plaintiff or undersigned counsel,” per the suit.
“Plaintiff is an upstanding good citizen and great father, with a great reputation for character in his local community and work community. In fact, the defendants drafted and disseminated these defamatory communications about plaintiff, John Bout, solely in response to the fact that Mr. Bout filed a protection from abuse action.”
For counts of defamation, slander per se, negligence and injurious falsehood, the plaintiff is seeking damages, individually, jointly and/or severally, for an amount in excess of the arbitration limits of the County, including punitive damages.
The plaintiff is represented by Matthew J. Scanlon of Scanlon & Wojton, in Pittsburgh.
The defendants have not yet secured legal counsel.
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas case GD-21-001946
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com