An oral argument has been scheduled in the lawsuit against Schuylkill County Sheriff Joseph Groody, Anthony Kodack and Ranae Warcola.

Senior Judge Robert J. Eby scheduled the hearing for 9:30 a.m. Oct. 19 in Courtroom 6 of the county courthouse to discuss the preliminary objections raised by the defendants Kodack and Warcola.

Schuylkill County Sheriff candidate Doug Litwhiler filed a lawsuit against Groody and three others. Kylee Petritsch, a defendant, has since been removed from the lawsuit. Groody has not yet been served. Kodack’s lawyer accepted service on his behalf. Warcola was served.

Litwhiler’s attorney Joseph Orso II said Friday he will try another way to serve Groody.

“The sheriff’s department won’t serve him,” he said.

He does not expect a resolution to the case until after the November election.

“We just expect the case to proceed through the courts,” Orso said.

Litwhiler said previously he was dropping out of the sheriff’s race because of allegations he made inappropriate remarks to women as alleged on the Facebook page titled “Schuylkill County Sheriff Candidate Doug Litwhiler likes young girls.”

He denies the accusations.

The filing, for defamation and civil conspiracy, alleges Groody threatened Litwhiler in a phone call and said that “it was going to be Groody’s last term and requested Litwhiler wait four years.”

According to the suit, Groody also told Litwhiler that if he entered the sheriff’s race that he would be wasting his money and that Groody “would ruin Plaintiff’s reputation, his jobs and his family.” In part it also alleges the posts were made at Groody’s direction and that the statements were made with “reckless disregard as to the truth or falsity of the statements.”

Groody has denied having any involvement with the accusations made against Litwhiler.

He said he had not sent emails, text messages, Facebook posts any allegations against his opponent.

Kodack said he created the page to give women an outlet to speak. Creating the page had nothing to do with politics, he said. He knows Groody but has not spoken to him in years. He said Groody has no affiliation with the page.

Kodack said he asks for evidence or corroboration when deciding what to post. He has rejected some for such comments regarding language. He also asks for permission to post stories before doing so.