Federal judge dismisses all but one count in Johnny Hunt’s $100M lawsuit against the SBC, SBC Executive Committee, and Guidepost Solutions
A federal judge issued an order dismissing all but one count of a lawsuit filed by Johnny Hunt against the Southern Baptist Convention, the SBC Executive Committee, and Guidepost Solutions in March 2023.
Hunt, former SBC president and a prominent pastor in the denomination, sued the SBC, the SBC Executive Committee, and Guidepost Solutions for defamation, claiming that Guidepost used Hunt as a “scapegoat” in a sexual abuse investigation conducted by the organization for the Executive Committee.
A May 2022 report from Guidepost’s investigation included allegations from an unidentified woman who claims Hunt sexually abused her in 2010, shortly after his two-year stint as SBC president. Hunt, who had served as senior vice president of evangelism at the North American Mission Board since 2018, resigned days before the Guidepost report became public, the Baptist Press reported.
The remaining count is related to then-SBC President Bart Barber’s Dec. 5, 2022, social media post in which Barber referred to Hunt’s actions as criminal.
“Hunt was the subject of a third-party investigation in response to allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman half his age in ways that would, to my knowledge, constitute a felony in any jurisdiction in the US,” Barber wrote in the post.
Judge William Campbell granted motions for summary judgment in the case on March 31.
Following the announcement SBC President Clint Pressley posted to X/Twitter the word “Thankful” in response to the judge’s order.
A trial in the case is scheduled for June 17 following the SBC Annual Meeting June 8-11 in Dallas.
In September, the Executive Committee announced that it had spent more than $12.1 million on the 2021-2022 Guidepost Solutions investigation and subsequent legal expenses dating back to the 2021 fiscal year. The announcement was met with strong rebuke from at least one SBC reform advocate over the “gross mismanagement” by the Executive Committee.
The Executive Committee has announced the liquidation of long-held Southern Baptist assets, such as the SBC building in downtown Nashville to pay for mounting legal expenses. Reportedly, $3 million has been spent defending the Executive Committee and Guidepost against the Hunt lawsuit. The contract with Guidepost during the initial investigation stipulated that Guidepost would have indemnity in any lawsuit resulting from the investigation, with the Executive Committee responsible for its legal bills, according to Baptist Press.
Read Judge Campbell’s order from March 31 below:
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