A defamation lawsuit filed against Mayor Pro Tem and Metro Councilman Chandler Loupe and the city-parish by former Parish Attorney Mary Roper will not go forward. Nineteenth Judicial District Judge Tim Kelley today threw out the defamation suit, issuing a ruling from the bench after a brief hearing.
“It was fairly straightforward,” says Loupe’s attorney, Murphy Foster. “We filed a motion to dismiss based on the code of civil procedure, and the judge ruled in our favor.”
Roper filed the defamation lawsuit late last year in the wake of her contentious termination by the Metro Council. The suit was just one of several legal actions she filed against the city-parish and various members of the council in the aftermath of her firing.
A separate lawsuit challenging the termination proceeding was dismissed earlier this year by 19th Judicial District Judge Mike Caldwell. Roper’s attorney has appealed that ruling. Yet another lawsuit over public records requests Roper made to the council has yet to go to trial. That matter also will go before Kelley.
Foster says while today’s ruling is good news for his client, it should not have any bearing on the other suits.
“They’re really apples and oranges,” he says.
Roper’s attorney, Dale Baringer, did not immediately return a call for comment.
