David Sills Will Not Pursue Claims Against Jennifer Lyell Estate: Other 10 Defendants Still On

Former Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor David Sills will not pursue legal damages against the estate of Jennifer Lyell, following her death back in June, according to a recent court filing.

Sills previously filed a lawsuit against Lyell and several other high-profile SBC personalities and institutions, including former SBC President Bart Barber, former president Ed Litton, former Lifeway executive Eric Geiger, Albert Mohler, Guidepost Solutions, and others. Sills alleged conspiracy, defamation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress after they and Guidepost Solutions branded him as a sexual predator.

Years ago, Sills admitted to having an inappropriate and sexual relationship with Lyell, who quickly became the face of the #churchtoo movement within the SBC, and was paid more than $1.5M in compensation.

Sills denied abusing, grooming, or forcing himself upon her in any way. While he claims that their encounters were consensual and did not include intercourse (she, too, has admitted the latter), she claimed that they were the result of grooming and coercion, despite being a 26-year-old woman at the time it began and lasting more than a decade.

Notably, during her deposition, she alleges that Sills would occasionally corner her and force her to perform oral sex on him despite her pleas that he not: “I resisted — attempted to resist verbally, physically squirming, reasoning, no, all these things.”

SBC lawyers are working hard to get the case against them dismissed, using the same tactics that saw Johnny Hunt’s lawsuit against them fall apart.

Sills previous complaints against Lyell included:

1. Plaintiffs file this complaint against Defendants alleging defamation, conspiracy,
   intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligence concerning untrue claims of sexual
   abuse declared by Defendant Jennifer Lyell, and, thereafter repeated and published by remaining
   Defendants, as well as untrue claims that Mrs. Sills aided, abetted, facilitated, or otherwise enabled
   the said sexual abuse.
2. Plaintiff Sills did not, at any time, sexually abuse Defendant Lyell.
3. Plaintiff Sills did not ever force himself upon Defendant Lyell.
4. Plaintiff Sills never used violence against Defendant Lyell and never threatened to
   use violence against Defendant Lyell, or anyone else.
5. Importantly, Plaintiff Sills did not engage in sexual intercourse with Defendant
   Lyell, at any time, whatsoever.
6. At all relevant times, Defendant Lyell was well above the age of consent (i.e., 26
   years of age) when she met Plaintiff Sills. Defendant Lyell initiated and aggressively cultivated
   and maintained a personal and emotionally intimate relationship with Plaintiff Sills.
7. While as an acquisitions editor for Moody Publishers in Illinois and later as a senior
   publishing executive for Defendant Lifeway in Tennessee, Defendant Lyell would drive several
   hundred miles and many hours just to see Plaintiff Sills and his family.
8. Plaintiff Sills ended the relationship with Defendant Lyell who nevertheless
   persisted in her pursuit of Plaintiff Sills and undertook efforts to reach him through his family.
9. Notably, Plaintiff Sills never denied that an inappropriate relationship took place,
   and, consequently, he rightly resigned from positions within the Southern Baptist Convention
   (“SBC”).
10. When it was revealed that the relationship was consensual, however, Defendant
    Lyell did not accept the reproach from SBC members despite its truth. Instead, Defendant Lyell,
    relying on her expertise as an accomplished writer and executive in the fields of advertising and
    publishing within the SBC, a lucrative and powerful position, constructed a false narrative against
    Plaintiffs at the height of the nationwide awareness of the SBC scandals.
11. Defendant Lyell worked frantically to restore her reputation and preserve her
    powerful position of doling out lucrative book deals, while affirmatively and skillfully dismantling
    the reputations, careers, and family life of Plaintiffs.
12. The SBC Defendants were at the same time confronted with and trying to manage
    a decades old scandal within the SBC concerning actual predators harming innocent victims, many
    of whom were children. Rather than seek the truth, however, Defendants repeated and circulated
    the false statements made by Defendant Lyell about Plaintiff Sills, causing him to be cast out as a
    toxic pariah. After various mischaracterizations, misstatements, and contrived investigations by
    Defendants, Plaintiffs have been wrongfully and untruthfully labelled as criminals and shunned by
    the SBC and every other religious organization with which Plaintiff Sills has tried to associate.
13. As a result of the Defendants’ acts and omissions, Plaintiffs have suffered
    significant reputational harm, emotional distress, physical pain, and financial loss.

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