Twitter Julie Swetnick
The Internet is circulating with rumors that Julie Swetnick might have been the target of a defamation lawsuit by Webtrends, a company that she worked for. Court records do show that the company filed a lawsuit against a woman by the same name, just after Swetnick finished working for Webtrends. But the case was voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiff, according to court records.
Here are more details.
A search of the Oregon Judicial Department’s online records does reveal that Webtrends Corporation filed a lawsuit against a woman named Julie Swetnick in 2000. It was a civil defamation and fraud suit, according to court records. Here’s a screenshot of the search results.
Oregon Judicial Department
The records reveal that the lawsuit was filed in 2000 by Webtrends Corporation and Margie Huetter against a defendant named Julie Swetnick. It was later dismissed by Webtrends.
A resume posted by Swetnick online indicates that she worked for Webtrends just before the lawsuit was filed. The suit was filed on November 27, 2000, and she worked for Webtrends as a professional services engineer in Portland, Oregon from December 1999 to August 2000. When she left Webtrends, she then worked for Cable & Wireless International from September 2000 to April 2002 as a “senior web project manager/teams lead/Webtrends manager.” When she worked for Merck Sharp & Dohme from July 2005 to January 2006, she was also a “Webtrends professional services engineer (sme).” So she continued to work with other companies on Webtrends projects in some form even after she left the company.
Webtrends is a digital analytics company.
According to the court records, the complaint involved defamation and fraud and it was not subject to mandatory arbitration.
Oregon Live reported that Webtrends alleged in its lawsuit that Swetnick claimed to have graduated from John Hopkins University, but the school had no record of her attendance. Webtrends claimed that Swetnick also “falsely described her work experience” with a previous employer. The suit also alleged that she took part in “unwelcome, sexually offensive conduct” on the job and made “false and retaliatory allegations that other co-workers had engaged in inappropriate conduct toward her,” Oregon Live found.
The suit went on to say she engaged in sexual innuendo toward to male employees during lunch, while customers were present. But in another lawsuit, Swetnick claimed that two employees had sexually harassed her, Oregon Live noted. Webtrends claimed that her allegations defamed the company.
Webtrends also alleged that Swetnick took medical leave while claiming unemployment benefits. The company would not comment to Oregon Live about the suit.
According to court records, Judge James R. Ellis ultimately dismissed the case with prejudice. This means that the case was dismissed and the plaintiffs could not bring the same case back. The records indicate that the case was dismissed with prejudice “Pursuant to ORCP 54A.” A look at ORCP 54 reveals that this is a voluntary dismissal, which means that the dismissal happened by the request of the plaintiff, who voluntarily withdrew their claim.
The records also indicate that the case was dismissed without any court costs or attorney fees incurred to either party.
Swetnick has also been involved in other court cases. Politico reported that public court records from Miami-Dade County show that a former boyfriend, Richard Vinneccy, filed a restraining order against her on March 1, 2001. He told Politico that she threatened him after they broke up. However, Swetnick’s attorney Michael Avenatti told Politico that he knew nothing about the order and it was irrelevant. “Her ex-boyfriend fraudulently used her resume to apply for and obtain jobs and was caught by her,” he said.
The public court records do not link to more detailed documents, except to say that the case was ultimately dismissed voluntarily. Neither Webtrends nor Julie Swetnick have commented publicly about the suit.
This article was updated with additional details about the case.