Claims of conspiracy and doxing included in a First Amendment lawsuit brought by former Lewis County Coroner’s Office employee Paul Bromm against two local governments and a list of public officials have been dismissed by a judge.
A final claim of retaliation has not yet been addressed.
In an order released on Monday, Sept. 14, U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle of the District Court for the Western District of Washington granted a request for summary judgement from defendants and Lewis County officials Commissioner Sean Swope, Sheriff Rob Snaza, Prosecuting Attorney Jonathan Meyer and Coroner Warren McLeod.
In doing so, he ordered the claim of First Amendment conspiracy against the officials be dismissed on the grounds that all parties are subject to qualified immunity.
The judge also dismissed a doxing claim brought specifically against Swope stating that it “fails as a matter of law” and agreed with the commissioner’s defense that any of his posts were protected by the First Amendment.
“Swope does not challenge Bromm’s claim on its elements but instead argues that he had his own First Amendment right to make his post,” reads the legal document. “Just as Bromm had an interest in sharing his memes, so too did Swope have an interest in criticizing him, and in communicating that criticism to his constituents.”
The judge also denied a request from the defendants to be awarded legal fees, stating that the suit against them was not “frivolous, unreasonable, or without foundation.”
The ruling effectively dismisses two of the four claims alleged by Bromm, who filed a First Amendment lawsuit in April.
The suit alleges that Lewis County terminated Bromm from his part-time job with the Lewis County Coroner’s Office in response to posts he made to Facebook making light of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, shortly after the conservative icon’s death in September 2025..
In addition to the list of Lewis County officials, Bromm's suit also named the local governments of both Lewis County and the City of Centralia as well as Centralia Police Chief Andy Caldwell.
Bromm specifically filed claims of First Amendment retaliation, First Amendment conspiracy, municipal liability and doxing.
This most recent ruling dismisses both the conspiracy claim and the doxing claim. At the same time, in a ruling filed Thursday, Sept. 3, the judge ordered that the municipal liability claim, also known as a Monell claim, be dismissed without prejudice on the grounds that Bromm did not cite adequate evidence to support the claim.
A Monell claim alleges that an established government policy or custom was to blame for causing a direct violation of constitutional rights.
Three of the court claims have been dismissed, but the recent orders have not addressed the allegation of First Amendment retaliation, the first claim brought in Bromm’s original complaint.
Lewis County fired Bromm from his job in the coroner's office and filed a “Brady letter” against him in response to images he posted on a personal Facebook account immediately after the assassination of Kirk. Brady letters are almost exclusively used for law enforcement and are meant to disclose conduct that might impact an officer's credibility before a judge or jury.
The posts were composed of reshared images and memes making light of the Kirk assassination, with phrases such as “nice shot.”
Bromm faced public backlash in the month after making the posts, coming in part from Swope and state Rep. Joel McEntire, R-Cathlamet. McEntire, who has in the past been criticized for inflammatory and aggressive posts on Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter, in his own post identified Bromm as a Lewis County employee, referred to him as a “disgusting person” and tagged Swope in the comment.
Swope went on to respond to the posts, confirming Bromm's identity as an employee of the Lewis County Coroner’s Office and encouraging others on the platform to report Bromm’s posts to his superior, McLeod.
In an immediate response to the backlash, McLeod recognized that individuals have the right to free speech but added that speech can still have consequences. Roughly a month after Kirk’s assassination, McLeod confirmed that Bromm had been terminated from his position, stating simply “he is no longer employed with this office,” and offering no further comment.
The Lewis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office also commissioned a potential impact disclosure, more commonly known as a Brady letter, before Bromm’s official termination.
The letter stated that the posts by Bromm are evidence of possible bias against an identifiable group. The letter also addressed possible infringement of First Amendment rights, claiming that the letter does not violate the core right to free expression and echoes McLeod’s earlier comment.
“Without question, such speech is protected under the First Amendment,” the letter states. “However, in the exercise of freedom, there may also be consequences.”
For previous reporting by The Chronicle on the lawsuit filed by Bromm and his earlier termination visit https://tinyurl.com/bdde7fek.
This article will be updated.
