A judge in downstate Christian County ruled Friday that a defamation lawsuit Republican attorney general nominee Thomas DeVore filed against the mother of his girlfriend can proceed.
The ruling came in response to a motion to dismiss filed by an attorney for the mother, Julie Craig, under the Citizen Participation Act, a 2007 state law designed to prevent public figures from using the courts to silence critics.
Advertisement
DeVore’s lawsuit alleges Craig published an online article under a pseudonym in April that accused DeVore of domestic abuse and attorney misconduct, among other allegations. In a sworn statement filed in response to the lawsuit, Craig “categorically” denied being the author of the article and said she wasn’t involved in its creation and doesn’t know the author.
In his decision, Christian County Associate Judge Kevin Parker wrote that he couldn’t properly evaluate whether DeVore’s lawsuit fell under the state law without first determining whether Craig wrote or helped publish the article in question.
Advertisement
“At this pleading stage of the case, that material fact is in no way settled,” Parker wrote.
Craig’s attorney, William Moran, said Friday that it was too early to determine whether he would ask the judge to reconsider.
Parker has yet to rule on another motion to dismiss the case on separate grounds, but the judge earlier this week ordered Craig and three other named respondents to answer questions and provide documents requested by DeVore’s attorney.
DeVore, who has a history of taking critics to court, did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment.
The article at the center of the case was published April 25 under the name Roger Casteel on the website Substack. It stemmed from an incident that took place days earlier after the Sangamon County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner in Springfield.
Springfield police responded in the early morning hours of April 20 to a call from the estranged husband of DeVore’s girlfriend, Riley Craig, police and court records show. DeVore represented Riley Craig in an unsuccessful lawsuit against Gov. J.B. Pritzker in July 2020 over the governor’s COVID-19 restrictions on businesses.
The husband reported that he’d received a call from his wife about an argument with DeVore. After speaking with police, Riley Craig retrieved her belongings from DeVore’s hotel room without incident, and no charges were filed, records show.
Four days later, the Substack article appeared under the headline, “Attorney Tom DeVore Involved in Domestic Violence Incident,” according to a copy included as an exhibit in DeVore’s lawsuit.
Advertisement
The article, which is no longer online at its original location, alleged that DeVore “fled the scene” after the argument with his girlfriend, “knowing this can ruin his political campaign, even affect his ability to practice law in Illinois.”
In his lawsuit, DeVore alleges Julie Craig “created and published” the online article, which accused him of “multiple criminal actions,” causing “harm to his professional and public reputation with likely clients and with voters.”
DeVore also alleged that Julie Craig worked in concert with lawyer David Shestokas, one of the two opponents he defeated in the GOP primary for attorney general, and Bobby Piton, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in June. Shestokas’ sister, Jill Shestokas, also is named.
DeVore is running against incumbent Democratic Attorney General Kwame Raoul in the Nov. 8 election.
dpetrella@chicagotribune.com
