Judge Rules Against NKY News Network Publisher’s Motion to Dismiss Lawsuit

Renaissance Covington’s lawsuit against the publisher of a series of Facebook pages dubbed the NKY News Network will proceed after Kenton County Circuit Judge Patricia Summe dismissed Richard Hines’s motions to dismiss.

Hines, the publisher of Facebook pages that purport to be news like Northern Kentucky News, Covington News, Latonia News, etc., is representing himself in the matter. 

A court hearing on the lawsuit, which claims defamation against the former executive director of Renaissance Covington (RCOV), Katie Meyer, was held in mid-December. Hines, who describes himself as a resident of Florida, did not appear.

“The Judge’s Order dismissing Mr. Hines’ motions is the first step in holding him accountable for his defamatory statements regarding Renaissance Covington and its former Executive Director,” wrote attorney Shannon Smith who is representing Meyer. “He will be exposed for his disregard for due diligence, the effect on our clients, and frankly, the Covington Community. This is a win for many. We will now move forward with discovery and potentially a trial to ensure Mr. Hines is held responsible for his attacks against Renaissance Covington.”

Smith is also a Covington city commissioner. Meyer is the daughter of Covington Mayor Joe Meyer.

Meyer is suing Hines over posts he made to his Facebook pages related to Renaissance Covington’s financial standing. Renaissance Covington is a nonprofit promotional agency based in downtown Covington.

On September 22, 2018, Hines posted to multiple pages in his Facebook “news network” that Renaissance Covington was one of two Covington-based organizations that “may file for bankruptcy.” The other was Mainstrasse Village Association, which did file for bankruptcy and shutter.

RCOV, on the other hand, challenged Hines’s assertion. In his post, Hines wrote, according to the suit, that both organizations were “ineptly unable to promote” and that RCOV had “run out of money and is considering its options.”

The next day, RCOV attorney Shannon Smith, who was running for city commission at the time, and is currently serving her first two-year term, emailed a cease and desist order to Hines. The order demanded that Hines remove all references to RCOV having run out of money or planning to file for bankruptcy. Smith’s letter also called for Hines to correct his posts and to apologize for them. 

Smith’s letter warned Hines that RCOV could seek legal action. It also informed Hines that the organization’s financial information was available to the public. 

On September 26, Hines returned to posting about RCOV’s finances.

“Renaissance Covington refuses to release info about its current financial status,” Hines wrote at his Facebook pages. Charlene Dietz, a Covington resident who is listed as a contributor to Hines’s Facebook pages, picked up documents from RCOV. “It won’t release a verified financial statement as of September 22, when the item was posted at the NKY News Network. It did give us a copy of its budget for fiscal year 2016-17 which tells us nothing. A spokesperson claims the organization is late with its 2018 report due to an accounting change.”

On that date and in that same post, Hines wrote through his NKY News Network pages, “We don’t know if the organization is broke or not. A list of cash on hand vs. liabilities would answer that question but, so far, the nonprofit that is backed by the City of Covington has refused to do that.”

Hines has long been critical of Renaissance Covington and members of the Meyer family.

His series of Facebook pages started with one named for the Covingon neighborhood in which he lived close to Mayor Meyer and his family, Old Seminary Square. That page later evolved into one with a different name and then a series of other pages followed, later all branded together by Hines as the NKY News Network, which mostly aggregates content from other media sources. 

Hines is often criticized by users of his pages for his deletion of comments and banning of people from the pages.

In filings dated in October, Hines submitted to the court on his own behalf motions to dismiss Meyer’s lawsuit, citing First Amendment protections. In his argument, which he filed without formal legal representation in the matter, Hines stated that he simply offered Meyer an opportunity to clarify RCOV’s financial situation and that he hired a courier to pick up supporting documents from RCOV. Hines also argued that Meyer’s lawsuit could be invalid because he says that there is “no proof” that RCOV’s board of directors granted permission to Meyer to file her suit. 

Additionally, Hines argued that if RCOV had issues with his Facebook posts, the organization could have stated as much in the comment section of the Facebook posts, “and it chose not to do so.”

Hines argued that Meyer was not harmed by his posts since she later accepted employment at Cincinnati Bell and that, he said, she is a public personality.

“A review of the filing seems to indicate that Katie Meyer and all involved are trying to stiffle (sic) the absolute First Amendment rights of Richard Hines, newsnky.com and NKY News Network,” Hines wrote in his motions to dismiss.

Hines also argued that the suit should be dismissed because he is not a resident of Kentucky, owns no property in Kentucky, and that his assets are protected.

One of the documents filed by Hines was stamped by a notary public in Dekalb County, Georgia. 

In her formally submitted opposition to Hines’s request for dismissal, Smith argued that Hines failed to support his arguments with applicable legal standards and that the motions filed by Hines on October 9, November 12, and December 6 should be stricken from the record. 

Smith said that the court’s rules require that such motions like those filed by Hines must recite authority, and also countered Hines’s claim that as a non-Kentucky resident that he should be protected from this suit.

Smith cited Kentucky’s long-arm statute which allows for a court to handle cases for an out-of-state defendant based on certain acts committed within the jurisdiction in question. “By posting on these Facebook pages and his website, Defendant is specifically targeting residents that live in Covington and Kenton County,” Smith wrote.

Hines responded to Smith’s opposition to his dismissal in another court filing, and suggested that he called the Kenton County Circuit Court Clerk’s office to seek guidance on how to request a postponement of the hearing. He noted in his filing that he began investigating the hearing in which he was being sued after reading about it in an online report. Hines said that an employee at the circuit clerk’s office “offered no guidance” on how to request the postponement and instead suggested that he contact Smith’s law office, which he did. 

In the filing, Hines also pleaded for patience, citing the fact that he is not an attorney and that court rules may have been “inadvertently broken”. He also suggested that original hearing notice was sent to an incorrect address for him in Florida.

In a response to Hines, Smith strongly encouraged Hines to seek legal counsel.

On Monday, Judge Summe issued her judgment on the motions to dismiss, dismissing all of Hines’s motions. A representative at Smith’s law office said that no further hearings are currently scheduled.

Hines could not be immediately reached for comment.

Read the full documents here:

Written by Michael Monks, editor & publisher