Lori Lakota, Ex-Minooka Board Member, Files Defamation Suit

MINOOKA, IL — Lori Lakota, the Minooka Community High School Board member who resigned amid controversy in May 2019, has hired a Will County lawyer to file a defamation lawsuit against former Minooka High School student Karina Carbajal.

Patch has reached out to Carbajal seeking comment for this story.

Lakota is being represented by Plainfield attorney John Schrock. According to the defamation complaint, the plaintiff and the defendant both live in Shorewood.

The lawsuit states that Carbajal is a former Minooka high school student who posted the following statement on her Twitter account on June 5, 2020: "Current and previous students of Minooka Community High School, I created a Google Doc that will be used to document incidents of racism that occurred at MCHS. Feel free to add to the doc and please share it with others! It will be shared with the school."

The Plainfield lawyer for Lakota has submitted several pages of social media posts connected to Carbajal as trial exhibits for their defamation lawsuit against her. The lawsuit was filed at the new Will County Courthouse.

According to Lakota and her lawyer, the Shorewood defendant wrote the following information on page seven of her Google document: "2019 Board member Lori Lakota resigned after stating that she 'Did not want a black man to teach her daughter at a school board meeting which is all recorded. School board forced the resignation of then Principal Ron Kiesewtter after blowing the whistle on the racist comment."

The Plainfield attorney for Lakota informed Will County's judges that "the statement that Lori Lakota stated that she 'did not want a Black man to teach her daughter at a school board meeting which is all recorded' is false," Schrock wrote. "The statement that Lori Lakoka stated that she 'did not want a Black man to teach her daughter at a school board meeting which is all recorded' imputes that there was a want of integrity by Lori Lakota to discharge the duties of her office as a Minooka School Board member."

The Plainfield civil attorney argues that "the statement that Lori Lakota stated that she 'did not want a black man to teach her daughter at a school board meeting which is all recorded' is a statement that constitutes Defamation Per Se.

"That statement ... is a false statement of a matter of fact."

According to Lakota's attorney, his client "has incurred damages in excess of $50,000 by reason of defendants' publication of the aforesaid false and defamatory statement."

The lawsuit asks Will County's judiciary for an "entry of judgment in her favor and against defendant Karina Carbajal in a sum in excess of $50,000 plus costs."

Related Patch articles:

Lori Lakota Resigns From School Board Amid Controversy

Minooka HS Principal's Settlement Revealed In Patch FOIA

Minooka HS Principal's Resignation Was Mutual: WJOL