Garner files motion to dismiss in former Kearney girls basketball coach’s defamation lawsuit

KEARNEY, Neb. — The person named in a defamation lawsuit filed by the former Kearney High girls basketball coach is asking a judge to throw out the case.

Amber Garner filed a motion to dismiss in Buffalo County District Court on Tuesday. J.D. Carson accused her of slander and invasion of privacy as part of the lawsuit. He also included three types of slander counts and an invasion of privacy count against unnamed defendants. His attorney says he hopes to identify who the other defendant or defendants should be through the pretrial discovery process.

The lawsuit accuses Garner of telling someone in 2021 that Carson was engaged in an inappropriate relationship with one of his players. The allegations against the unnamed defendants accuse them of making false claims about Carson to school officials. He resigned as coach in November at the request of school administration.

In her motion to dismiss, Garner argues that Carson failed to allege facts sufficient to support a lawsuit. She says inquiries into misconduct by a teacher are quasi-judicial proceedings, which would make them immune from a defamation suit. In the motion, Garner argues that Carson does not allege that she made any statements about him to anyone other than school administrators. The lawsuit accuses her of making the comments to “a Buffalo County citizen.”

A hearing on the motion is set for March 19.

Carson’s attorneys have scheduled depositions with the school superintendent and school principal on April 9.