By Samuel Mattison
Alabama Political Reporter
Leigh Corfman, who accused Roy Moore of sexual assault when she was 14, filed a defamation lawsuit against the former GOP Senate candidate on Thursday after she says actions by the Moore campaign caused her emotional distress.
The 29-page lawsuit, filed in the Montgomery County Circuit Court, said that since she came forward with the allegations, Moore’s campaign made statements that they consider to be not true and defamatory.
Corfman’s suit also blames Moore for the public’s reaction to the allegations.
“Following the example set by Mr. Moore and the Moore Campaign Committee, the public subjected Ms. Corfman to hateful, derogatory, and even violent remarks,” the suit read.
Attached to the suit, they included posts from various social media platforms that they say are evidence of a public backlash.
Corfman’s allegations were first reported by the Washington Post four weeks before the December general election. In the report, Corfman alleges that Moore undressed her and touched her inappropriately in the 1970s.
Since that time, other women have come forward alleging that a 30-year-old Etowah County Assistant District Attorney Moore pursued relationships with them when they were teenagers.
Moore’s campaign have denied the allegations and have said they are coordinated attacks against his character. Corfman’s lawsuit also said this claim by the Moore campaign also painted her in a negative light.
“Mr. Moore and the Moore Campaign Committee made false statements about Ms. Corfman, including that her account of being sexually abused by Mr. Moore when she was 14 years old is not true, that Ms. Corfman knew that her account is false when she gave it, that she is immoral, and that she was motivated to come forward for political, financial, or other purposes unrelated to the search for truth,” the suit read.
The lawsuit is asking for Moore to retract the statements. Corfman is not seeking financial compensation but is requesting that Moore pay legal fees associated with the lawsuit.
Doug Jones, Moore’s opponent, won the Senate race in December after winning by a margin of less than 2 percentage points. Jones was sworn-in as Alabama’s senator on Wednesday after the State Canvassing Board certified the results on Dec. 27.
Moore attempted to block the certification in a last-minute legal motion that was denied by Judge Johnny Hardwick. In the complaint, Moore said he had taken a lie detector test proving that Corfman’s allegations were not true.
Even as Jones takes his seat in Washington, Moore has not conceded the election due to what he claims were statewide attempts at voter fraud. He said he doesn’t believe the instances of voter fraud were investigated by the Secretary of State’s Office thoroughly.
The Secretary of State’s Office pushed back on Moore’s comments at the Canvas board meeting with Secretary of State John Merrill said he and his staff looked at the hundreds of complaints extensively.
