The developer behind the data center project near Rifle Range Road has filed a defamation lawsuit against a candidate for Webster County presiding commissioner.
Trent Overhue filed the lawsuit Monday against Gail Peak Brown, who is running for presiding commissioner in the Nov. 3 general election.
The lawsuit centers on comments Brown allegedly made about the data center’s electrical and cooling systems.
One of the examples cited in the lawsuit involves a video posted to social media in July. The video showed the facility operating with a significant amount of noise.
Overhue claims the noise came from a generator being used during system testing and was not representative of how the facility would normally operate.
According to the lawsuit, Brown’s post did not include that explanation. Overhue argues that leaving out that context gave people the impression the noise would be an ongoing problem for nearby residents.
The lawsuit alleges Brown made other misleading statements about the project’s electrical and cooling systems.
Overhue claims those statements damaged his reputation and caused financial losses for his company.
Brown declined to comment on the lawsuit when contacted by Ozarks First. Overhue had not provided an additional response to the television station at the time of its report.
The legal dispute comes after months of public debate over the data center project being developed just off Rifle Range Road outside Marshfield.
In June, the Webster County Commission approved a six-month moratorium on certain new developments in unincorporated parts of the county. The moratorium included new data centers, along with solar, wind and battery storage projects.
The Rifle Range Road project was already underway when the moratorium was approved.
This is also not Overhue’s first lawsuit involving public comments about the facility.
In August, Overhue and NSI A1, LLC filed a separate lawsuit against Katherine Wiltse in Wright County Circuit Court. That lawsuit alleges Wiltse made false statements on social media claiming the Marshfield-area facility had experienced two fires within a three-week period.
Overhue disputes those claims. According to that lawsuit, there were no fires during that period. The filing says firefighters responded once after a security guard became concerned about a temporary generator, but no fire was found.
Both cases remain pending, and the allegations in the lawsuits have not been decided by a court.
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