$10M Award to Idaho Prof Accused of Murder Based on Defendant's "Psychic Intuition"
For more on the backstory, see these posts; an excerpt from one:
This case arises out of the tragic murder of four University of Idaho students in November 2022. Plaintiff Rebecca Scofield is a professor at the University of Idaho. She alleges that, despite never meeting any of these students or being involved with their murders in any way, Defendant Ashley Guillard posted numerous TikTok (and later YouTube) videos falsely claiming that Plaintiff (i) had an extramarital, same-sex, romantic affair with one of the victims; and then (ii) ordered the four murders to prevent the affair from coming to light….
Plaintiff asserts two defamation claims against Defendant: one is premised upon the false statements regarding Plaintiff's involvement with the murders themselves, the other is premised upon the false statements regarding Plaintiff's romantic relationship with one of the murdered students.
On June 6, 2024, the Court granted Plaintiff's Amended Motion for Partial Summary Judgment …. On the issue of liability for Plaintiff's two defamation claims against Defendant, the Court concluded that Plaintiff sufficiently demonstrated the absence of any genuine issue of material fact relating to the falsity of Defendant's statements about her. Id. (after citing evidence, stating: "This is powerful evidence at the summary judgment stage. It not only substantiates Plaintiff's argument that Defendant's statements about her are false, it also highlights the complete lack of any corroborating support for Defendant's statements.").
Under Rule 56, this shifted the burden to Defendant to dispute that claim by setting forth facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial relating to whether her statements about Plaintiff are true. In relying only on her spiritual investigation into the murders, however, the Court concluded that Defendant did not satisfy her burden. Id. ("As a result, Defendant's psychic intuition, without more, cannot establish a genuine dispute of material fact to oppose Plaintiff's summary judgment efforts."). The Court therefore concluded that "the totality of the evidence reveals that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact that Defendant defamed Plaintiff."
Friday, the jury awarded Scofield $1M in compensatory damages and $2.5M in punitives as to the "inappropriate romantic relationship with a student" claim, and $1.5M in compensatory damages and $5M in punitives as to the "orchestrated the murder" claim.