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Olivia Berger, left, and Vanessa Valdes, right, speak at a press conference on behalf of women being sued by Stewart Lucas Murrey, who they all dated (YouTube screengrab/KTTV). Inset: Murrey (via lucasmurrey.com).
A California man peeved about the fact that women he dated had found each other online and compared notes has taken his grievances to court.
Stewart Lucas Murrey has sued at least 10 of women in Los Angeles civil court. He says that the women connected in a Facebook group called “Are We Dating The Same Guy, Los Angeles” and said things about him that were not true — including that he was involved in a “MURDER case of his ex wife,” is “suspected of murder,” and has been charged with domestic violence.
“All of these statements are false,” says the amended complaint, which was filed in November and has been reviewed by Law&Crime. He says he has never been married, and that a girlfriend “passed away from cancer in March of 2018.”
“Defendants clearly conspired to harm plaintiff,” the complaint says. Murrey accuses the women of using “coded language” in the Facebook group to “[coach] their co-conspirators how to cyberbully, harass, [and] defame” him, such as asking the question: “Does anyone have any tea to spill?”
He also says that his First Amendment rights were violated when he was barred from joining the Facebook group.
Murrey’s complaint implies that there may be more potential ex-dates — and future co-defendants — out there. He says his damages amount to $600,000 for pain, suffering, inconvenience, emotional distress, and current and future medical expenses, according to court documents.
He is also seeking up to $2 million in punitive damages and expansive prohibitions against the defendants, including a declaratory judgment that prohibits the defendants “from using Facebook and/or any Meta social media application and/or platform (including, but not limited to: Instagram, Whatsapp, etc.), and especially from participating in any Facebook group and/or any other social medial application and/or platform and defendants are prohibited from using any and all online dating applications and/or platforms.”
Murrey, who filed his amended complaint in November, appears to be representing himself in the lawsuit.
At a press conference Friday, the defendants said that they, in fact, are the ones who have been defamed by Murrey, who they say has referred to them as “criminals,” “losers,” and “psychotic women.” Two of the defendants told local Fox affiliate KTTV that their posts were expressions of their opinion based on their encounters with Murrey — and that they are protected by the First Amendment.
Defendant Olivia Berger went on a date with Murrey in 2021 after connecting with him online, CBS News reported. She said that although the experience was unpleasant — and that she had “never had a date like this, ever” — she didn’t give it much thought until seeing a post in the Facebook group that included photos of Murrey, asking people to share any experiences they had with him.
Vanessa Valdes, another defendant, said that the Facebook group is a platform for sharing personal experiences and opinions.
“Everything I said was just my experience with him and my opinions on how I think, you know, he should not be on dating sites,” she told Los Angeles Fox affiliate KTTV.
Valdes says that she exchanged messages with Murray but never actually went on a date with him due to his offensive messages. She says he called her a “moron” and told her “it’s fun watching you burn.”
The defendants have filed various responsive motions, including a request to strike down the lawsuit under California’s anti-SLAPP law, which is aimed at preventing lawsuits that are filed for the purpose of shutting down protected speech.
In a statement to local news station KTLA, Murrey denied the defendants’ allegations against him.
“For years, key defendants obsessively tracked, stalked and incited harassment against me,” the statement said, according to the station. “These are women with whom I had little to no interaction. In every case of interaction, I rejected each of them and cut them off, quite swiftly. Instead of going their separate ways, they went on for months and years to spread misinformation about me and countless others. Their actions were deliberate, and now they are playing the victims.”
The defendants, in turn, said Murrey’s accusations against them are simply not true.
“None of the women standing here made any of those claims, to my knowledge,” Valdes said. “I definitely didn’t.” Valdes said that online searches revealed an “alarming” history of litigation, and that information about those lawsuits were shared within the group, but “none of us commented or claimed that we knew the status of any of those cases. I definitely didn’t, and neither did my co-defendants.”
The women have started a GoFundMe to raise money for legal representation in the case. Valdes said the fundraiser had been “paused” because it had been “reported or flagged, we don’t know by who.”
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