(KLZA)--The two-year legal fight is not yet over between the loser of a 2020 GOP-on-GOP legislative race and the Nebraska Republican Party that accused her in ads of wrongdoing.

Nebraska City business owner Janet Palmtag lost her defamation lawsuit against the state GOP, a Lancaster County District Court judge ruled Friday in a summary judgment.

District Judge Andrew Jacobsen ruled that Palmtag- legal team failed to clear the higher bar for public figures alleging defamation, saying they didn’t prove the GOP acted with “actual malice.”

Her lawyer, David Domina, said Monday that he plans to appeal the judgment to the Nebraska Supreme Court. He said he sees several potential positives in the ruling for Palmtag.

According to The Nebraska Examiner, the court found she did not violate the law. Domina said Palmtag did not lose her license and the question is whether there was actual malice. He said Palmtags case belongs to the jury.

Part of Jacobsen- ruling found that a reasonable person could read the GOP ads inaccurately and think that Palmtag had gotten in legal trouble herself and lost her real estate license.

The GOP sent ads to southeast Nebraska- Legislative District 1 saying Palmtag, a licensed real estate agent in Nebraska and formerly Iowa, “broke the law” and “lost her real estate license.”

Someone working for Palmtag- real estate firm, J.J. Palmtag Inc., had gotten in trouble in Iowa, documents show, and she as the corporate officer had to sign off on an order issuing a fine.

Palmtag, a long-time state GOP volunteer, lost the race to State Sen. Julie Slama of Dunbar.

Slama had recently been appointed to the seat by Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts. The state GOP, for which Ricketts was the top donor, donated another $113,000 to Slama and spent nearly $50,000 on ads and materials opposing Palmtag.