Wyoming Supreme Court Takes On A Messy Defamation Case

The Wyoming Supreme Court will be taking a closer look at a defamation suit against a woman who's ex-husband says she's been slandering his name in the town of Meeteetsee.

The original suit was thrown out, but the plaintiff appealed. The State of Wyoming remanded the case and it will now to go trial.

Documents from the Supreme Court show that the pair were married from June 2019 until September 2021. The man filing the suit owned and operated an outfitting and hunting guide business, mainly operating in the Northwest region of the United States.

The then-wife occasionally helped guide hunts, both before and during their marriage. While conducting his business in Idaho, he was charged with a hunting violation. He pled to a misdemeanor charge and his guiding privileges in Idaho were suspended for a time.

Hoping to continue business in Wyoming during the Idaho suspension, he looked into obtaining hunting leases on ranch lands around Meeteetse. However, he eventually learned his Wyoming guiding and hunting privileges had also been suspended, due to Wyoming being a member state of the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact.

Around the time a million-dollar sale for his outfitting and guiding business fell through, the man reportedly learned that his ex-wife had been making derogatory statements about him to people in the small community.

He claims his neighbor harassed him, he was fired from his ranch job, he was evicted from stabling his horses, a female acquaintance would no longer associate with him or let any child be alone around him, his church ostracized him, and rumors about him were supposedly circulating through the community.

The defamatory statements?

He alleges his ex falsely told people he was a convicted felon, both a homosexual and attracted to underage girls, and poached deer in Wyoming. In District Court she denied making any of the derogatory statements and that her ex-husband had no evidence to prove she did.

The Supreme Court, however, says Lewis might have evidence enough to prove his defamation claims. One particular affidavit specifies that the defendant approached another person at the Walmart in Riverton with the aforementioned statements. We have kept the names of the plaintiff, defendant, and involved third parties out of the story purposefully.