A federal jury has cleared multiple Douglas County officials who were accused of violating a Eudora man’s constitutional rights, court records released Monday morning said.

After an eight-day civil trial in Topeka, the verdict was issued Friday in favor of Douglas County Appraiser Marion Johnson, appraiser’s office employee Steven Miles and sheriff’s deputy Dale Flory.

In the civil lawsuit, Michael Van Deelen, 58, alleged the county workers violated his First Amendment rights by retaliating against him for his continuous attempts to appeal the county’s property tax assessment of his Eudora home, 1025 Acorn Drive. After multiple appeals and a lawsuit, Van Deelen alleged that he was verbally intimidated, that an appraiser scowled and stared at him, and that a sheriff’s deputy poked him and threatened to shoot him if he continued to file appeals.

Van Deelen, who has repeatedly represented himself in lawsuits across the country, was seeking $500,000 in damages.

More than two years ago, U.S. District Court Senior Judge Sam Crow had dismissed the case, saying it wasn’t a matter of public concern. But Van Deelen, who is not an attorney, won an appeal he filed with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. So the case returned to federal court in Topeka for trial.