Bucks County gym owner files defamation lawsuit over petition alleging his involvement in the Capitol insurrection

The owner of a Bucks County gym and wellness center filed a defamation lawsuit against a Doylestown resident and the website he used to make a petition, in which he called on people and businesses to boycott the facility over the owner’s involvement in organizing buses to go to the U.S. Capitol the day of the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in Bucks County’s Court of Common Pleas, alleges that MoveOn.org and Gregory Bullough, who created the petition, are responsible for publishing “false, malicious and defamatory” accusations against Jim Worthington, the owner of Newtown Athletic Club.

Worthington became a controversial figure last year when he defied Pennsylvania’s coronavirus closure orders and in June reopened his 25,000-square-foot facility, which has a resort, spa, fitness center, and 11 racquetball courts.

Worthington is a prominent supporter of former President Donald Trump and helped form a political advocacy group called People4Trump, which organized three buses to transport 200 people to attend Trump’s rally in Washington on Jan. 6, according to the complaint. Worthington traveled separately and arrived in D.C. on Jan. 5. The complaint asserts that Worthington did not go to the Capitol or participate in any criminal acts or violence.

News spread quickly of Worthington’s involvement in organizing the buses. On Jan. 10, Bullough created a petition on MoveOn.org asking the club’s community partners to end their association with the club over Worthington’s involvement in transporting people “to participate in what became the January 6th shameful riot and insurgency in Washington D.C.”

Bullough also posted on his personal Facebook page a link to the petition, stating that Worthington “organized three busloads of seditionists to converge on the U.S. Capitol,” the complaint says. This post was eventually deleted, the complaint says.

In February, Worthington’s lawyers sent letters to Bullough and the executive director of MoveOn.org demanding the petition be removed. The letters went unanswered, the complaint says.

The complaint alleges that the petition and Facebook posts falsely assert Worthington was involved in participating in the criminal behavior that day, which has “tarnished the reputation” of him and his club “in their community and beyond.”

The petition, which remains active, has garnered more than 7,000 signatures. It’s unclear how many businesses ended their relationship with the club, but the Bucks County Courier Times reported that at least 10 partners were removed from the club’s online list of partners — which has since been removed entirely — within 24 hours of the petition’s launching.

After the partnership page was removed, a line was added to the petition that read, “We have won,” and removed the list of business names associated with the club.

Worthington is seeking $50,000 in damages for loss of fees from community partners, membership fees, and other income.

In an email to The Inquirer, Bullough, a nature photographer, called the lawsuit a “meritless [strategic lawsuit against public participation] suit” and a “bullying tactic.” He has started a GoFundMe to offset legal costs, which as of Thursday afternoon, had raised about $200.

“Let’s show him that bullies don’t prevail,” he wrote on the page.

“The freedom of speech that we enjoy in this country does not give an individual or an organization license to make false, malicious and defamatory accusations of criminal conduct that are intended to harm Mr. Worthington and the NAC,” Worthington’s lawyer Geoffrey Johnson said in a statement.

Representatives from MoveOn.org could not be immediately reached.

Pennsylvania is home to 37 people who have been publicly charged in connection with the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol, which left five people dead, including a police officer, and dozens more injured.