Court grants partial summary judgement in defamation case of Jefferson County sheriff’s brother

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - Bruce Pettaway, the brother of Jefferson County Sheriff Mark Pettaway, was granted a victory Tuesday in his defamation case against the Jefferson County GOP Chair Christopher Brown and 1819 News.

A judge granted a partial summary judgement this week, saying comments made by Brown and repeated by 1819 news constitute Defamation.

Pettaway filed a defamation lawsuit in 2024 against Brown and 1819 News, claiming both had done “irreparable damage” to his reputation. The suit claimed that damage came when Brown, during a radio interview in March 2024, said Sheriff Pettway’s “brother helps to manage much of these illegal gambling operations,” and said 1819 News repeated the claim in a post about the interview.

Pettway’s suit claimed the defendants knew the claims weren’t true, but said Brown repeated them because he was one of a series of “Republican Party operatives’ intent upon discrediting and maligning his brother, Sheriff Mark Pettway.”

His attorneys said Brown knew the allegation wasn’t true because of a 2019 court case where a federal judge ordered Attorney General Steve Marshall to return $240,000 he had seized from Pettway’s business after asserting they were proceeds from illegal gambling activity. Pettway asked the court to return the money and the district court ruled Pettway’s filing revealed a plausible claim that “the State’s actions against the Plaintiffs were politically or personally motivated, have been procedurally tainted, were all with the intent to harass Plaintiffs, and were all in bad faith.”

Tuesday, July 7, a court found that the “statements at issue constitute defamation per se as a matter of law.”

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