BEECH GROVE, Ind. -- The attorney for the city of Beech Grove said Wednesday that he's working on a settlement of an ACLU lawsuit over alleged deleted Facebook comments.
Two community crime watch members, Kymberly Quick and Deborah Mays-Miller, filed the lawsuit last Wednesday, claiming the city violated their First Amendment rights when it deleted their comments and then blocked them from posting on the page.
RELATED | ACLU sues Beech Grove over deleted Facebook comments.
Beech Grove City Attorney Craig Wiley said Wednesday that he's working with a settlement with the ACLU Indiana, which includes an agreement on a new social media policy for the Beech Grove city and police pages.
Wiley said even though he believes the city has a valid case, he advised that they don't litigate because of the costs, which could reach over $100,000 of taxpayer money if they lose.
On Tuesday, the city of Beech Grove announced that it would be taking down the page "on the advice of legal counsel." The announcement was made on the city's Facebook page.
"Unfortunately we will be losing a most effective tool for sharing information with the citizens of Beech Grove," the post read.
The Facebook page was shut down at noon on Wednesday. Beech Grove is directing residents to its official website for information about the city.
Wiley said he expects the Facebook will be back up and running in some capacity in as little as a week.
Jan Mensz, an ACLU of Indiana staff attorney, had the following statement:
“While the City of Beech Grove’s decision to shut down its Facebook pages is unfortunate, we hope it is a temporary measure taken toward implementing a policy that ensures fair and equal treatment of its citizens' diverse viewpoints. Beech Grove is certainly not unique in its endeavor to provide public spaces for comment. Many municipalities use social media sites in ways that respect the rights of citizens to express differing viewpoints, as is their right under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. These were the rights our plaintiffs were seeking in this case, and there is nothing in the lawsuit that forces the city to shut down its social media sites.”
