Ryan Upchurch Hit With $17.5 Million Verdict by Nashville Jury
A Nashville jury hit ryan upchurch with a $17.5 million verdict this past week in a defamation case brought by David Rodni and Daniel Robertson. The case centered on videos Upchurch posted about the death of Kiely Rodni, a 16-year-old who went missing in 2022.
Upchurch’s Kiely Rodni videos
One video carried the title “ZERO proof of Kiely Rodni situation being REAL.” Another clip included the line: “Do you realize that you can be a millionaire on GoFundMe by catfishing people with internet deaths? You could do it fast as f–k. Look at the Kiely Rodni GoFundMe. It’s made $63,000 in the past seven days. That’s one GoFundMe for Kiely Rodni. If you have five GoFundMe’s for each individual person that you catfish, fake a death with, all you need is three people. Three people. Three viral stories. You’re a millionaire in two weeks.”
Rodni went missing in 2022 after leaving a party near a campground in Truckee, California, near Lake Tahoe. After a two-week search, her vehicle was found inside a reservoir, and the coroner ruled that she died by drowning and that the death was accidental. The sheriff’s office said no foul play was suspected.
From dismissal fight to trial
Upchurch had argued in his motion to dismiss that his statements were opinions protected by the First Amendment. The court denied that motion, and the case reached trial in Nashville this past week on claims of defamation, false light invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
The jury’s finding on all claims gives Rodni’s family a full civil win on the case they filed after the videos circulated. For Upchurch, the financial exposure now lands at $17.5 million, a number that turns a social-media dispute into a serious legal bill.
Nashville jury’s full award
The verdict also answers the dispute over whether the videos would be treated as protected opinion or actionable statements about a dead teenager’s case. The jury sided with David Rodni and Daniel Robertson on every claim, and that leaves the $17.5 million award as the story’s immediate consequence.
