PITTSBURGH — They were certainly girls, and they were demonstrably mean.

That is the plaintiffs' response to motions in a Butler County lawsuit regarding sexual assault allegations, physical torment and psychological trauma.

The motion to strike the “scandalous and impertinent matter” became a focus of attention in December as responses were filed to a lawsuit brought by Alecia and Michael Flood Jr. in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh in October. The lawsuit claims their minor son, identified as T.F., suffered physical torment and psychological trauma as a result of false sexual assault allegations.

The suit alleges that one adult and four minors Meghan Villegas and minors K.S., C.S., E.S. and H.R. falsely accused T.F. of sexual assault. It also accuses their parents, George Villegas Jr., Pam Villegas, David and Christy Sherk, David and Christine Seaman, Cris and Kimberly Salancy and David and Lynn Reina of negligence.

Also on the list of defendants are Seneca Valley School District, Butler County District Attorney's Office and Butler County as entities that exercised gender-based discrimination and failed to properly investigate initial charges.

All defendants — with the exception of the Reina family, which remains unrepresented in the lawsuit — filed motions to dismiss the case in early December among motions to strike the “scandalous matter,” to which the Floods' lawyer, Craig L. Fishman, filed responses on Jan. 11.

Fishman used an urbandictionary.com definition of “mean girls” — which describes the term as referring to girls who are bullies and use “girl aggression,” such as nasty comments, trickery, deceit, spreading rumors, etc. — and argued “Meghan Villegas and the minor defendants were mean. Meghan Villegas and the minor defendants are girls. Meghan Villegas and the minor defendants are 'mean girls.'”

This is an excerpt — read the full article in Tuesday's Butler Eagle.