In an order issued Friday, March 1, a visiting judge ruled the mayor of Slippery Rock is not immune in a defamation suit that also includes the Butler County district attorney and others.

Senior Judge Christopher St. John, of Mercer County, also ordered attorney Jennifer Gilliland Vanasdale to amend the complaint she filed against District Attorney Rich Goldinger, Slippery Rock Mayor Jondavid Longo and two others in her defamation suit stemming from claims made during last year’s election, in which Goldinger defeated Vanasdale.

St. John was assigned the case by the Administrative Office Of Pennsylvania Court because all Butler County Common Pleas Court judges recused themselves. St. John issued rulings after hearing arguments on several motions Monday.

Longo’s immunity defense was overruled without prejudice and can be refiled once Vanasdale files the amended complaint, if it provides a better basis for his argument, the judge ruled.

Longo posted a link to a campaign letter Goldinger wrote in October 2023 containing allegations Vanasdale can’t practice before sitting county judges and the judges recused themselves from cases involving her law firm.

The complaint Vanasdale filed Nov. 17, shortly after the Nov. 7 election, contains two counts of defamation and single counts of false light and aiding and abetting against all of the defendants. Justin Castilyn, of Saxonburg, and Cheryl Guenther, of Prospect, are the two other defendants.

Vanasdale argued each defendant played a role in disseminating false and defamatory information about her in an orchestrated effort to help Goldinger win reelection.

Goldinger, a Republican, won his fifth term in office in the election in which Vanasdale ran as an Independent.

Friday’s order calls for Vanasdale to file an amended complaint with breakout claims containing numbered counts against each defendant and the damages she is claiming in each count.

In addition, the order instructs Vanasdale to file motions to seal certain exhibits before she files the amended complaint.

During Monday’s hearing, Vanasdale said the defendants mischaracterized her role in two lawsuits in which she was named as a defendant to harm her reputation and interfere with the election.

One of the suits, filed in 2019 in Allegheny County, claims Vanasdale sexually assaulted a Homestead man. The second suit, filed in 2011 in Butler County, is related to an estate she represented.

Vanasdale said she was never served with the 2019 suit, but the defendants posted the entire suit on social media.

Court records indicate the suit was terminated in September 2022 due to inactivity for two years.

At Monday’s hearing, Vanasdale said the 2011 estate suit was withdrawn and discontinued without her paying any money. In her suit, she claims Castilyn posted a comment on social media saying sources told him she paid $40,000 and legal fees to settle the suit, which was sealed under a court order, she said.

The case was unsealed Dec. 7 following a motion filed by the Butler Eagle.

The judge also struck a paragraph in Vanasdale’s complaint claiming Castilyn has a criminal record, ruling it is impertinent to the case.