Word spread late Tuesday that four people associated with Conservatives for Guilford County that filed a defamation lawsuit against a local blogger had offered settlement terms to avoid a trial.
Most of the chatter stemmed from online posts by defendant Jeff Martin, who blogs under the name Fecund Stench. Martin posted on a new blog that he’s set up that the plaintiffs had agreed to a settlement and “paperwork is to follow.”
Martin followed that up Wednesday with a cryptic post stating “we’re close and working through it.”
Word of the suit spread Monday after Yes! Weekly broke the story. Martin deleted his blog on Friday after being served with the suit by a sheriff’s deputy. The plaintiffs objected to Martin’s acerbic satirical style, in which he lampooned their conservative politics by placing members of C4GC, and their spouses, in absurd fictional settings. The narratives often took place in strip clubs.
Douglas Adkins, the lead plaintiff, owns strip clubs in Greensboro, in addition to a vast network of ATM machines that net him profit per transaction. Adkins was an early financial supporter of C4GC. His wife, Isabella Adkins, was a prominent spokesperson for the group, appearing at numerous political rallies and local government meetings to speak on behalf of conservative policy.
According to information obtained by Yes! Weekly, Douglas Adkins objected vehemently to Martin’s writings and is demanding that Martin strictly adhere to any terms of a potential settlement.
As part of the settlement terms, Martin would have to agree not to speak publicly about Douglas or Isabella Adkins, or C4GC co-founder, Jodi Riddleberger. The terms state that Martin would limit his speech or writings about Brett Riddleberger to factual statements. Brett Riddleberger was convicted in 1995 of indecent liberties with a minor.
Martin often made salacious references to Brett Riddleberger on his blog.
The settlement also takes into account social media and internet storage concerns. Both Jodi Riddleberger and Isabella Adkins have public Facebook profiles and post frequent photos of themselves, often dressed up in costumes or in formal attire. Martin once posted a photo that appeared to be taken from Riddleberger’s Facebook wall and showed Riddleberger and Isabella Adkins, along with other women. Martin made reference to strip clubs when posting the picture on his blog.
The settlement terms require that Martin not publish photographs that might be considered private. It also would require Martin to delete posts that include the plaintiff’s names, or references to them that could lead to identification of the plaintiffs. A stipulation is included that Martin ensure the material is deleted from cache or cloud storage and that no hard copies exist.
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