TERLINGUA — A defamation case brought by Terlingua-based hotelier Jeff Leach against former employee Katy Milam inched forward this week after stalling in mediation since 2023. Counsel for Milam filed a partial motion for summary judgment, asking for a judge to rule in advance of a tentative September trial date.
The complex legal battle between Leach and Milam — who goes by Schwartz in court filings — began in the summer of 2019 when Milam claims she was pinned down by her former employer, who told her he “always gets what he wants.” Milam filed a report with the Brewster County Sheriff’s Office but declined to press charges.
Leach filed a defamation lawsuit against Milam in September of that year, claiming that Milam’s retelling of the incident to others had hurt his reputation and his business, short-term rental operation Basecamp Terlingua.
Milam’s counsel then filed a motion under the Texas Citizens Participation Act (TCPA), which provides a few criteria that courts can use to drop defamation suits, including whether or not a defendant was exercising their First Amendment rights or whether a particular plaintiff could be considered “libel-proof.”
That TCPA motion — filed on the grounds that Milam had the First Amendment right to talk about what had happened between her and Leach and that Leach’s alleged bad reputation rendered him “libel-proof” — was granted by a court but quickly appealed by Leach. The appeals court reversed the lower court’s decision, citing missed deadlines and other procedural issues.
While the civil suit was taking shape, three other women filed affidavits in support of Milam, alleging sexual violence and misconduct. One of them resulted in a grand jury indictment of Leach in February 2020 for sexual assault; the 83rd District Attorney’s office dismissed the indictment in April 2022.
In July of that year, Milam filed her own countersuit and enjoined Leach’s girlfriend, Anna Oakley. She alleged that the two had conspired to trash her reputation and cast doubt on her accusations, most notably by putting up stickers saying “Katy Lied” in bathrooms and bars across the tri-county.
The defense gathered hundreds of pages of testimony from others who accused Leach of predatory behavior and telling falsehoods, including articles in Texas Monthly alleging a long history of litigation and an article in the journal Science casting doubt on Leach’s claim to be a PhD conducting research on the gut microbiome. (Leach’s counsel refuted these allegations throughout the discovery process.)
The two parties lingered in mediation throughout the end of 2023, until an impasse was declared in March of 2024. Milam’s attorney, Jodi Cole, filed a motion for summary judgment, in hopes that a judge will find the facts of the case undisputed and make a decision from there.
Cole’s filing is a hybrid motion, applying only to Leach’s case against Milam. If the judge rules in Milam’s favor, her lawsuit against Leach will continue, seeking reimbursement of court costs and “maximum damages” of $1 million.
Leach’s attorney, Rae Lafeiste, said that he didn’t see much of a difference between Cole’s most recent motion and the TCPA motion filed in 2020. Lafeiste will have 21 days to respond to the motion once set by the court and will have the opportunity to introduce additional discovery. “We’re all anxious to get this resolved,” he said.
Cole wanted to stress that the decision to add Oakley to the proceedings was not meant as a personal attack, but to provide a full picture of all her client claims she suffered. “Jeff Leach is like a wad of gum on your shoe,” she said. “You have to use a stick to get it off.”