Bill Halle still thinks the Pennsylvania School Boards Association should have listened to the advice of Butler School Board members — even though, he said, PSBA never asked for it in the first place.

Failure to do so could end up costing the association thousands upon thousands of dollars — money that Halle and his fellow board members last year officially objected to the PSBA spending, partly in their name.

On Friday a federal judge refused to throw out the lawsuit of a Bucks County resident and his organization against the PSBA, the latest development in a legal exchange that has now lasted nearly a year.

The legal wrangling between Simon Campbell, who runs Pennsylvanians for Union Reform, and the PSBA involves Butler School District in multiple ways.

Campbell, who sued Butler School District in 2011 for a list of names and addresses of district property owners, attracted the ire of PSBA officials last year over what the association called a “relentless campaign of harassment, repeated defamations, tortious interference and abuse of process under the Pennsylvania Right to Know Law.”

PSBA in 2017 filed a civil complaint in Cumberland County Court against Campbell and his organization, claiming he was abusing the state's Right-to-Know, spreading defamatory statements on his website and had forced PSBA to process 600 requests for financial statements. The association, in court filings, seeks more than $50,000 in punitive damages, interest and legal costs from Campbell.

Far from supporting PSBA's suit, Butler School Board members formally lined up against the association last July, passing a resolution objecting to PSBA using annual membership dues from the district to pay for legal costs associated with the lawsuit.

The district pays about $14,000 in annual dues to PSBA. The dues is based on student enrollment and member districts get access to administrative services and resources.

“The Butler School District Board expresses its belief that the lawsuit filed in this matter is ill-advised and should be withdrawn,” the resolution reads.

The resolution prompted other districts in Butler County to pass similar measures opposing the PSBA's filing.

Halle criticized the association for keeping school boards out-of-the-loop on the matter. He said PSBA officials didn't consult with districts before filing the lawsuit, and noted that board members only found out about the action in a mass email from PSBA on the day it was filed.

“One of the reasons we did this is we're involved in the case — we're named,” Halle said. “To make that type of action without any type of communication just was not wise. It (PSBA) wasn't being a team player. It wasn't wise legally or acting in good faith with our membership.”

To make matters worse for PSBA, it's now facing a countersuit filed by Campbell, who in March filed in federal court. In court documents he asks a judge to “end retaliation and intimidation by government entities and representatives against a private citizen ...,” and seeking monetary and punitive damages.

On Friday Judge Jan E. DuBois denied a motion from PSBA asking that Campbell's countersuit be dismissed. She also refused to order Campbell to revise language in his lawsuit, which claims that the PSBA's lawsuit is a “strategic lawsuit against public participation,” or SLAPP suit that seeks “to use tort liability and the threat of damages to censor, intimidate, and silence critics ...”

The decision potentially sets PSBA up to be liable for monetary damages. DuBois rejected PSBA's argument that it was collectively entitled to immunity from punitive damages as a government entity, and that its individual members were entitled to qualified immunity.

Halle, on Sunday, again criticized PSBA for what he said was a lack of transparency and a misallocation of resources regarding its case against Campbell.

“We wish the PSBA would just drop the lawsuit and comply with the Right-to-Know requests ... and move on with their very important job of advocating for public education in Pennsylvania,” Halle said.