{"id":15581,"date":"2025-11-21T22:55:28","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T05:55:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/judge-tosses-cortez-superintendents-defamation-suit-orders-burris-to-pay-fees\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:49:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:49:16","slug":"judge-tosses-cortez-superintendents-defamation-suit-orders-burris-to-pay-fees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/judge-tosses-cortez-superintendents-defamation-suit-orders-burris-to-pay-fees\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge tosses Cortez superintendent\u2019s defamation suit, orders Burris to pay fees"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tom
Tom Burris<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

A judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit by Montezuma-Cortez School District Superintendent Harry \u201cTom\u201d Burris, saying social worker Jonathan \u201cJJ\u201d Lewis was shielded by Colorado\u2019s anti-SLAPP law and mandatory-reporter immunity when he reported allegations of sexual abuse.<\/p>\n

U.S. 22nd Judicial District Court Judge William Furse on Nov. 4 granted Lewis\u2019 special motion to dismiss, finding Burris failed to show a reasonable likelihood that Lewis defamed him with his reports.<\/p>\n

Furse also ordered Burris to pay Lewis\u2019 attorney fees and costs related to the special motion to dismiss.<\/p>\n

An 11-page document from the 22nd Judicial District, obtained by The Journal, <\/em>detailed the evidence gathered in the case.<\/p>\n

In 2023, a parent told Burris she was concerned that a high school teacher allegedly invited her son to her home outside school hours, shared personal information and consumed alcohol in front of students.<\/p>\n

The parent later testified she never alleged a sexual relationship between her son and the teacher and never asked Burris to keep the matter secret.<\/p>\n

In a call recorded in June 2024 between Burris and then-Human Resources Director Cynthia Eldredge, Burris said the parent feared her son was going to \u201cget laid\u201d at the teacher\u2019s house and that the parent had made him promise not to report it.<\/p>\n

Eldredge later shared the recording with Lewis. As a licensed social worker and mandatory reporter, Lewis contacted the Child Abuse Hotline on July 13, 2024, and later spoke with Cortez police. According to the document, Lewis told authorities he understood from the recording that possible sexual contact occurred between the teacher and the student and Burris failed to report it.<\/p>\n

Police later found no evidence of abuse by the teacher, who was terminated by the district.<\/p>\n

Burris was cited in August 2024 for misdemeanor failure to report suspected child abuse. In Colorado, a mandatory reporter who willfully fails to report suspected child abuse or neglect can be charged with a Class 2 misdemeanor under specifically C.R.S. 19-3-304.<\/a> Penalties can include up to 120 days in jail and\/or a fine of up to $750.<\/p>\n

The charge was resolved in February through a court diversion agreement that included mandatory reporter training.<\/p>\n

Burris filed the defamation lawsuit against Lewis in June, alleging Lewis deliberately misrepresented the recording to authorities out of personal or political dislike for Burris, causing harm to his reputation and financial loss to the school district.<\/p>\n

Furse ruled Lewis\u2019 statements did not differ from what an objective listener would take from the recording. Furse also found no evidence Lewis falsified information or had a \u201chigh degree\u201d of awareness that any reported information could be false.<\/p>\n

Furse held Lewis also has qualified immunity under Colorado\u2019s mandatory reporter statute, which presumes good faith unless \u201cwillful, wanton and malicious\u201d conduct is proven.<\/p>\n

Qualified immunity under C.R.S. 19-3-309<\/a>, titled \u201cImmunity from liability,\u201d says in part:<\/p>\n

\u201cAny person, other than the perpetrator, complicitor, coconspirator or accessory, participating in good faith in the making of a report, in the facilitation of the investigation of such a report, or in a judicial proceeding held pursuant to this title \u2026 or otherwise performing his duties or acting pursuant to this part 3 shall be immune from any liability, civil or criminal \u2026 unless a court of competent jurisdiction determines that such person\u2019s behavior was willful, wanton and malicious. For the purpose of any proceedings, civil or criminal, the good faith of any such person reporting child abuse \u2026 shall be presumed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Furse determined Burris presented no evidence capable of overcoming that presumption, even after considering Lewis\u2019 prior public criticism of Burris on unrelated issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven after considering the defendant\u2019s demonstrated animosity toward Superintendent Burris, the plaintiff is no closer to proving the material falsity of defendant\u2019s statements,\u201d the document said. It added that Lewis\u2019 prior public criticisms were unrelated to the comments he made to investigators.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile plaintiff\u2019s evidence demonstrates defendant is unhappy with Mr. Burris\u2019s conduct as superintendent, such evidence has no bearing on whether the challenged statements were materially false and is not enough to show that defendant\u2019s reporting was a product of willful, wanton and malicious conduct. Therefore, the court finds plaintiff has not shown a reasonable probability of prevailing as defendant\u2019s good faith presumption and immunity per C.R.S. 19-3-309 is unlikely to be overcome.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lewis is protected under anti-SLAPP law and immunity after reporting allegations of abuse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,155,28,60,216,29,76],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-education","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-montezuma-cortez-school-district-re-1","tag-newsletter","tag-u-s-22nd-judicial-district"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15581"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20953,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15581\/revisions\/20953"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15581"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}