By HOLLY GASKILL
A 2023 defamation lawsuit filed by a Wells County Council member has been partially dismissed with prejudice.
Brandon Harnish, Bluffton, filed suit in February 2023, claiming he was defamed on social media by three social media accounts — Brian Pollie, Zionsville, also known as @REI-BJP, and two unnamed individuals, John Doe 1, known as INDProgressives on social media, and John Doe 2, known as @Uwuasssss and “‘Bonkey” on social media.
The suit was in connection to Harnish’s January 2023 statements on Twitter, now called X, regarding the signs posted at Bluffton’s city limits stating that Bluffton is an inclusive community. In response, the named social media accounts made or engaged with allegations that Harnish had a history of sexual misconduct.
In his suit, Harnish claimed the defendants knowingly made false allegations and continued to defame him. Harnish requested a jury trial seeking damages to compensate for the “personal humiliation, mental anguish, mental suffering, and financial harm” caused by the allegations.
In his response to Harnish’s suit, Pollie confirmed he had tweeted under the handle @REI-BJP, but denied the claims he had knowingly propagated false and defamatory allegations. Furthermore, Pollie’s response stated that Harnish, as a public figure, has “a higher standard to prove a defamatory statement, including that such alleged statements were made with actual malice.” The response asserted that Pollie had not been acting with malice but had been exercising his freedom of speech.
The suit was moved to Boone County in July 2023 at the petition of Pollie’s counsel, Richard Shoultz. Harnish’s counsel, Jeffrey Heinzmann, opposed the venue change, saying that the defamatory statements made by anonymous accounts indicated a local connection that was relevant to the suit itself.
According to court records, there had been no formal activity in the suit since December 2023, when Pollie notified the courts of a change in his legal representation.
On July 22, 2024, Harnish and Pollie jointly filed to dismiss the suit with prejudice, each retaining their court costs. The court granted this, dismissing Pollie from the suit.
INDProgressives continues to post on X and Facebook under the same username. The other named social media accounts have been deleted or changed their usernames since the suit was filed.
holly@news-banner.com
