Judge Dismisses Defamation Lawsuit Against Kootenai County Sheriff Norris

First District Judge Lamont Berecz dismissed a defamation lawsuit against Kootenai County Sheriff Robert "Bob" Norris on Monday, not on the merits of the case, but because plaintiff Pennie Collinson's legal team failed to post a required bond before filing suit against an active law enforcement officer.

The dismissal was procedural. Idaho law requires proposed plaintiffs to file "a written undertaking with at least two sufficient sureties" before bringing any civil action against a law enforcement officer when the action arises out of the performance of official duties. When that bond is not posted, the judge "shall dismiss the case." Berecz had no discretion once the omission came to light.

Attorney Mark Ellingsen of Coeur d'Alene-area firm Witherspoon Brajcida McPhee, who represents Collinson, told KXLY that the bond amount had initially been "impossible to know," but the firm later identified the acceptable figure as $500 and paid it. Berecz allowed Collinson to refile, and Ellingsen said the firm planned to do so "as soon as early next week."

The underlying allegations are considerably more serious than the procedural detour suggests. Collinson, a Coeur d'Alene resident, filed the civil complaint in October 2024, accusing Norris of pointing at her during a Kootenai County Republican Party candidate forum in Cataldo last April and stating, in front of attendees, that she likes to give oral sex and photograph child pornography at the library. The complaint sought damages in excess of $10,000 and contended that Norris' alleged remarks, along with subsequent public comments, caused Collinson to suffer "headaches, loss of sleep, anxiety, nightmares, post-traumatic stress, night sweats and nervous tics."

The lawsuit originally named both Norris and Kootenai County as defendants, but the parties later agreed to dismiss the county from the case.

Norris had been a vocal critic of North Idaho libraries before the alleged forum incident, frequently claiming that library children's sections contained pornographic books. When Collinson filed a notice of tort claim against Norris and the county in 2024, the sheriff's office responded with a July news release calling her allegations "frivolous" and "100% false." In that same release, Norris offered a $10,000 reward for video proof of what Collinson alleged he said.

The Kootenai County Sheriff's Office had no comment on the dismissal.

Because the case was thrown out on procedural grounds rather than a finding in Norris' favor, the substance of the allegations remains unresolved. Whether the refiled complaint produces a different procedural path, or ultimately reaches a ruling on the defamation claims themselves, will determine whether Norris faces any legal accountability for what was said at the Cataldo forum.