Activist Seeks $104 Million, Alleging Constitutional Violations by County Officials, YouTube, Meta

According to the counterclaim filed in relation to County Commissioner President John Barr’s $10 million lawsuit against activist Shaun Porter (Case No. C-21-CV-25-000161) in Washington County Circuit Court, Porter charges a broad array of county and school officials with violating his civil rights, defamation, and abuse of process. In a sweeping suit seeking $104 million in damages, Porter contends that efforts to bar him from public meetings and suppress his speech amount to unlawful viewpoint discrimination and a coordinated campaign to silence his criticism of government actions.

Porter’s complaint names the five elected county commissioners—including Commissioner President John Barr—alongside the county attorney, administrator, school board members, and even Judge Victoria Lobley. He asserts that their collective actions, from issuing a six-month trespass order to filing peace orders and a separate defamation lawsuit, represent a “policy, pattern, custom and practice of civil rights violations.” Count IV alone demands $11 million, alleging he was turned away from eleven meetings due to his dissenting views. Porter frames each denial of entry as at least 2 hours of lost liberty, underscoring his claim of repeated First and Fourteenth Amendment infringements.

The complaint’s first count seeks $90 million for defamation per se, arguing that being publicly labeled false criminal accusations as a “criminal trespasser” at nine meetings inflicted irreparable harm to his reputation, basing the amount upon Barr’s original defamation suit against Porter for $10 million for one count of defamation. Porter was banned from County Commissioner meetings for six months, but the Maryland Open Meetings Compliance Board ruled this month that the ban was a violation of the Open Meetings Act. Count II alleges abuse of process, demanding $1 million after peace orders—later dismissed by a judge—aimed to stifle his attendance. Count III, a $1 million claim for false light invasion of privacy, centers on live broadcasts and local press coverage portraying Porter as a dangerous agitator rather than a political critic.

Porter also targets Washington County Public Schools officials in Count V, accusing an employee of automatically hiding negative comments on Facebook in violation of viewpoint neutrality, and seeks an additional $1 million. Beyond monetary relief, he requests declaratory judgments against Judge Lobley and school board members for acting “outside the scope of their authority” in curtailing his speech. The complaint culminates with permanent injunctions against Google and Meta, alleging biased deplatforming of his online channels in breach of Section 230 protections.

County officials must now prepare substantive defenses to allegations that their measures to preserve order crossed constitutional lines. Washington County Government and Washington County Public Schools were offered the opportunity to comment, but did not provide comment as of the publication of this article. Washington County Government’s policy is that they do not comment on pending or potential litigation.

Article by multiple contributors, based upon information from court filings in Washington County Circuit Court Case No. C-21-CV-25-000161.

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