(KTLAA man in Los Angeles is taking legal action against more than 50 women for writing negative posts about him on social media. He says the posts are false and harmful.
Stewart Lucas Murrey is accusing the women of various offenses including defamation, sex-based discrimination, intentional infliction of emotional distress, libel, invasion of privacy, and more.
The lawsuit is based on the comments and posts the women allegedly made in a Facebook group called “Are We Dating The Same Guy?”
The private group is for sharing dating advice and warnings about potentially harmful or untrustworthy men.
The group has specific pages for different U.S. cities.
Murrey claims the women wrote false things about him, including accusing him of murder or being involved in a murder case, having domestic violence charges, trying to extort money from women, having sexually transmitted diseases, and lying about being a lawyer.
Murrey says all the things the women posted in the group about him are untrue.
One of the defendants, Olivia Berger, mentioned that most of the women being sued had not met Murrey in person. She said some of the women only made passing comments or reactions to posts about Murrey, or simply just “liked” a post about him.
Berger, however, was one of the few women who went on a date with Murrey after matching with him on Tinder in 2021.
During their date, Berger said Murrey talked about conspiracy theories and other topics and came across as “arrogant and smug.” She felt they were not very compatible based on their different opinions.
“It was the usual bad date behavior,” Berger said. “I want to emphasize that I had never experienced a date like this before.”
When she shared her experience on the Facebook group, she said her statements were truthful and based on their real experiences. Murrey saw these comments and decided to file the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, Murrey tried to join the Facebook group to defend himself but said he was consistently denied entry.
Another defendant, Vanessa Valdes, said she connected with Murrey on the dating app Hinge.
“Right away, he gave me his phone number and said, ‘Let’s hang,’” she recalled. “I commented with one message saying, ‘Bold move’ with a happy face and then a barrage of harassing messages followed. So, I immediately blocked him and reported him.”
A few years later, Valdes commented on a post in the Facebook group about her experience with Murrey.
“I shared my personal experience, truthfully, and my opinions on his behavior, and now, I’m being sued,” Valdes said. “It’s unfortunate that we’re here, but I’m happy to provide all the evidence and get through this. Hopefully, justice will prevail.
In a statement to KTLA, Murrey denied all accusations and remarks made by the women.
“For years, key defendants obsessively tracked, followed and encouraged harassment against me,” he said, in part. “These are women with whom I had little to no interaction. In every case of interaction, I turned down each one of them and disconnected from them, quite quickly. Instead of going their separate ways, they continued for months and years to spread false information about me and numerous others. Their actions were intentional, and now they are portraying themselves as the victims.”
A court hearing took place on Tuesday in which the women defended themselves. They are currently looking for legal representation and hope the media attention on their case will attract the right lawyers to them.
Alison Triessl, a legal analyst for Nexstar’s KTLA, stated that the women may have a case, but it depends on several factors.
“If the claim is defamation, and the defense is that it’s the truth or was simply stated as an opinion, then there is no defamatory statement,” Triessl said.
Sharing more about the Facebook group, Valdez said, “It’s not about men versus women, it’s about truth versus fiction. This is a community, a place where women can share their genuine experiences and keep each other safe. So while we’re doing that, we’re exercising our right to free speech and we feel this is a bullying tactic to silence us.”
In January, a Chicago man also filed a lawsuit against members of the “Are We Dating the Same Guy?” Facebook group in that city, also for defamation, USA Today reported.
