Gidgie Bass, a former University School of Nashville (USN) student, Thursday filed a petition in Davidson County Circuit Court to dismiss the defamation lawsuit brought against her by terminated former USN teacher Dean Masullo.

In August, an attorney for the former English teacher filed a lawsuit against Bass for defamation, false light invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

“This action is an egregious example of a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, also known as the SLAPP suit,” the dismissal motion states. “… He … seeks to weaponize the justice system against his victim.”

The petition further states that the “Tennessee Public Participation Act protects against retaliatory lawsuits such as this that are designed to silence and punish citizens for speaking out on matters of public concern.”

The allegations against Masullo were substantiated by two separate third-party investigations.

In conjunction with the motion, Bass released the following personal statement:

“It can be hard to do the right thing, even when others might be harmed. This fact only makes doing the right thing more important. My goal has remained the same since day one: to tell the truth to protect my peers, my younger sisters, and all future students in the USN community. Masullo‘s lawsuit is unfounded. I stand by all that I have said and will do what it takes to shine light on the truth and uplift all those who were hurt by him during his teaching tenure.”

Waddey Acheson partner Chanelle Acheson is representing Bass.