Judge tosses lawsuits against Missouri state senators sued for posts after Kansas City Chiefs rally shooting

A U.S. District Court judge in Kansas on Monday dismissed lawsuits against three Missouri senators who were sued for sharing posts falsely alleging that a man was a shooter in the February Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade shooting.

Judge John W. Broomes, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, dismissed the lawsuits against Sen. Rick Brattin of Harrisonville, Sen. Denny Hoskins of Warrensburg and Sen. Nick Schroer of St. Charles County. Broomes found that the Kansas federal court lacked personal jurisdiction over the three senators, who were all from Missouri.

Denton Loudermill, a Johnson County resident, filed the lawsuits alleging that the three senators each shared social media posts falsely claiming that Loudermill was an “illegal alien” and a shooter in the February shooting that killed one person and injured more than 20.

“While Plaintiff may be able to reasonably plead an intentional action that caused injury in the forum state by Defendant, he cannot show that Defendant expressly aimed his social media post at the state of Kansas,” Broomes wrote in the orders dismissing the three cases.

Arthur Benson, an attorney for Loudermill, said in an email to The Star that he planned to refile the lawsuits in Missouri.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office had faced intense criticism for the decision to defend the three senators, including from Republican Gov. Mike Parson. Bailey’s spokesperson championed the ruling on Monday.

“Questions of Missouri law belong in Missouri courts, not in remote courts in other states,” spokesperson Madeline Sieren said in a statement. “We have said that from Day One. Missourians should rest assured that they have an Attorney General who will always follow the law, even when it’s not easy.”

While Broomes granted Bailey’s office’s personal jurisdiction argument, he denied as moot an argument that the three senators were protected by “legislative immunity” in their roles as lawmakers.

Legal and political experts had previously raised doubts about whether a judge would agree that a lawmaker’s social media posts could be considered official business.

The lawsuits and Bailey’s decision to defend the three senators had roiled the Missouri political world and even caused the state Senate to collapse into a bitter fight at the end of the legislative session.

The legal action came after an onslaught of false social media posts were shared with photos of Loudermill after the shooting. A similar lawsuit filed by Loudermill against U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, a Tennessee Republican, was dismissed last month.

The lawsuits alleged that the Missouri lawmakers’ posts caused Loudermill to receive death threats, incur damages totaling more than $75,000, anxiety, and loss of sleep.

Hoskins, who quoted a post on social media with Loudermill’s photo, said in a statement that he agreed with the judge’s decision and would “continue to pray for the innocent victims of the Kansas City parade shooting.”

“The criminals who shot innocent bystanders need to be held accountable for their senseless acts of violence,” said Hoskins, who is the Republican nominee for secretary of state.

Schroer, in his post, had shared a post from Burchett that included a photo of Loudermill that said “One of the Kansas City Chiefs victory parade shooters has been identified as an illegal alien.”

“Can we get any confirmation or denial of this from local officials or law enforcement?” Schroer wrote on social media over Burchett’s post. “I’ve been sent videos or stills showing at least 6 different people arrested from yesterday but officially told only 3 still in custody. The people deserve answers.”

Schroer, in a statement on Monday, celebrated the ruling, saying he was glad “that the rule of law has been maintained and these frivolous lawsuits targeting conservative Senators were dismissed.”

He added that he was “exploring all legal options available against persons and media outlets that knowingly spread fake news instead of what I actually asked on social media.”

Brattin, who had refused to apologize for his post, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.