Utah judge dismisses lawsuit against Tim Ballard

A Utah judge dismissed a civil lawsuit filed against Tim Ballard.

The suit was filed by Suzanne Whitehead in Salt Lake County’s 3rd Judicial District Court. Judge Charles Stormont granted Ballard’s motion to dismiss the suit in August. The order was filed Sept. 1.

Ballard, the founder of Operation Underground Railroad, was accused of silencing a witness to fraud within O.U.R. Whitehead alleged Ballard tried to intimidate her into silence regarding unethical business practices. Ballard had denied the allegations.

All of these claims were dismissed in the order.

“The Court finds that Plaintiff has not alleged the first element — outrageous or intolerable conduct by Mr. Ballard or O.U.R. or conduct that offends generally accepted standards of decency and morality — and the Court cannot draw any reasonable inferences from the Complaint of any outrageous conduct by Mr. Ballard or O.U.R. that offends the generally accepted standards of decency and morality,” said the order.

The order also said the plaintiff “failed to state a cause of action upon which relief can be granted against O.U.R. or Mr. Ballard.”

The claims against Ballard were dismissed without prejudice, the order said. If the plaintiff does not refile 21 days from the date of the order, the dismissal will be considered “with prejudice.” That would mean the petition could not be refiled after that point.

“It took Ms. Whitehead years to decide she had experienced ‘severe’ emotional distress following a brief social media dispute with Tim Ballard and a Utah judge has now dismissed her case after finding no substance to it,” said Mark Eisenhut, a partner at Call & Jensen, who argued the case for Ballard.

Eisenhut said this is the fourth time claims against Tim Ballard and his wife Katherine Ballard have been dismissed and they believe “Mr. Ballard will be fully vindicated in the remaining cases too.”

“Ms. Whitehead is dedicated to achieving the best possible result, and will proceed with an appeal concerning the defendants who were dismissed,” said Suzette Rasmussen, the attorney representing the plaintiff, in a statement.