Judge Rules Against Former SBC President Johnny Hunt in Guidepost Defamation Suit

SBC has spent more than $3M in legal fees on the Hunt case

Pastor Johnny Hunt preaches at Hiland Park Baptist Church on Jan. 15, 2023, in Panama City, Florida. (Video screen grab)

(RNS) — A federal judge ruled against former Southern Baptist Convention President Johnny Hunt on Monday (March 31), rejecting his claims of defamation against Guidepost Solutions and nearly all the former megachurch pastor’s claims against the Southern Baptist Convention and its Executive Committee.

Judge William Campbell of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee issued an order granting summary judgment in the case; his opinion followed a day later.

“We are grateful for this decision and the forward progress in our legal process,” Jeff Iorg, SBC Executive Committee president, told RNS in a statement.

Hunt had sued Guidepost, an investigative firm, and SBC leaders for defamation and other damages after Guidepost published allegations of sexual assault against Hunt in a May 2022 report on an investigation into how SBC leaders had dealt with sexual abuse.

At issue was a 2010 incident in which Hunt allegedly kissed and fondled another pastor’s wife. Hunt, who had kept the incident secret for years, at first denied it occurred and then claimed it was consensual.

In their court filings, Hunt’s lawyers claimed Guidepost had ruined his reputation and claimed the pastor’s sins were no one else’s business. Hunt, the former pastor of First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Georgia, and a former vice president of the SBC’s North American Mission Board, claimed Guidepost and the SBC had cost him millions, and he sought more than $75 million in damages.

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All counts of defamation, emotional distress and the public disclosure of embarrassing private facts were dismissed against the SBC and the Executive Committee. However, one claim alleging that a tweet about Hunt from Texas Baptist pastor Bart Barber, who was SBC president from 2022 to 2024, was defamatory has not been dismissed.

Hunt served from 2008 to 2010 as SBC president and remained a popular speaker before the Guidepost report. Court-ordered mediation on the case failed last fall. A trial had been scheduled this summer.

The Executive Committee has spent more than $3.1 million in legal fees related to the Hunt lawsuit and a second lawsuit related to the Guidepost report.

Last month, the SBC’s Executive Committee decided to ask the denomination for an additional $3 million for the upcoming year to cover its legal bills, including those for the Hunt suit.

In his lawsuit, Hunt alleged that Guidepost Solutions acted negligently during its investigation, ignoring evidence that would have cast doubt on the allegations against him, and that Guidepost and the SBC intentionally sought to paint him in the worst light possible. Hunt also said the woman who accused him of sexual assault, known in court filings as Jane Doe, was an unreliable witness.

But Campbell ruled that Hunt had provided no evidence to support his claims, while Guidepost provided substantial evidence of the thoroughness of the investigation into the allegations.

Hunt’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment. Guidepost Solutions declined to comment.

In a 74-page opinion, Campbell examines Hunt’s claims at length and rejects them. The judge points out that investigators spoke with a counselor who had talked with Hunt about the alleged assault and three Southern Baptist pastors who had heard of the alleged sexual encounter as well to corroborate the allegations. The judge also recounts that Hunt first denied the incident had occurred or that he had kissed or fondled Doe, and made no claims that Doe was unreliable at that time or that Doe had instigated the incident. Guidepost also gave Hunt an additional two days to provide any additional information to Guidepost.

Campell ruled that Guidepost could not have ignored or withheld any evidence about the encounter because Hunt had “squandered” the opportunity to provide evidence that countered Doe’s allegation. Hunt did not acknowledge the incident until after the Guidepost report was published and has since claimed that the encounter was consensual and that Doe was unreliable.

His arguments did not sway Campbell.

“Hunt ignores that much of Doe’s information was independently verified by other sources whose credibility he does not challenge,” Campbell wrote.

Campbell also rejected the claim that the Guidepost report had caused negligent emotional distress to Hunt.

“The Court has already determined that the record does not contain evidence that any defendant acted with negligence in connection with the Report,” Campbell wrote. “Moreover, Hunt has failed to point to evidence of mental and emotional injuries as a result of any of the statements which would disable a reasonable, normally constituted person from adequately coping with the alleged mental stress.”

Campbell also wrote that one of Hunt’s claims — that former SBC President Bart Barber had defamed him in a tweet — could not be decided at this time. It was unclear, the judge wrote, whether or not Hunt could be considered a public figure at the time or whether or not Barber tweeted in his official capacity as SBC president or not.

“This determination is subject to reconsideration upon further development of evidence and argument concerning Hunt’s status at the time of the Tweet,” the judge wrote. “Hunt has presented evidence from which a jury could conclude that Barber’s Tweet was in his capacity as SBC president. Therefore, judgment cannot be granted in favor of the SBC or the Executive Committee on this basis.” 

This article has been updated to add details from Campbell’s opinion.

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