Liberty University, Jerry Falwell, Jr. return to court over motion to have count dismissed

LYNCHBURG, Va. (WDBJ) - Liberty University and Jerry Falwell, Jr. returned to a Lynchburg courtroom Friday.

That stems from Liberty’s lawsuit against its former president.

Friday’s proceedings surrounded a Falwell motion to get one of the counts in that lawsuit against him - breach of fiduciary duty - dismissed.

After some back and forth, Judge James Watson said he’ll take the matter under advisement for now.

Additionally, Falwell filed a counterclaim to Liberty’s lawsuit in October 2021, alleging defamation, breach of employment agreement and several property-related claims.

In that counterclaim, he seeks to be awarded an unspecified amount in damages and enjoin Liberty from retaining property he claims as his.

A Friday court filing indicated that by agreement of both parties, the countersuit will not move forward as it is. The filing says Falwell will have 60 days to amend his counterclaim to, in part, “assert cases of action that are materially distinct from those asserted in the original counterclaim.”