SALT LAKE CITY — A libel lawsuit filed against a woman who claimed a Utah County commissioner harassed her is moving forward again, after an appellate court ruled it should not have been dismissed.
The investigation determined Taylor appeared to be a credible witness and had complained to multiple other county employees that Graves' behavior made her feel uncomfortable. The other two county commissioners, Nathan Ivie and William Lee, voted to disclose the report and addressed media and the public about the accusations and the investigation, after the results were determined. They publicly named Graves and called on him to resign, saying that he showed abuse of power and intimidated employees.
Graves claimed he was controversial and had an "often contentious relationship" with the other commissioners who accused him of not acting like a conservative. At one point, he switched his party affiliations to see if it would deter his co-comissioners from forcing his resignation and keep the position from being filled by a democrat..
The judges determined that if Graves had only claimed that Taylor's allegations were false, the claims would rightfully have been dismissed, but the complaint had a "constellation of facts" to support that the claims were false — specifically, the opinion cited claims that Taylor feared she was about to be terminated.