Judge upholds dismissal in Rockingham County defamation suit; plaintiff plans appeal
ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — A Wake County judge upheld his motion to dismiss a former Rockingham County commissioner's defamation lawsuit following allegations of a potential conflict of interest involving the presiding judge, according to attorneys familiar with the case.
On May 16, Judge Hoyt G. Tessener sided against former Rockingham County Commissioner T. Craig Travis in his 2024 defamation suit against former Commissioner Don Powell and sitting commissioners Mark Richardson and Kevin Berger, son of North Carolina State Sen. Phil Berger (R-Rockingham), as well as Rockingham County Republican Party Chair Diane Parnell, the North Carolina Conservatives Fund, Atlas Political Consulting LLC and GOPAC Inc.
Travis's legal team filed a motion to set aside the dismissal on May 22, expressing the belief that the deciding judge had a conflict of interest due to alleged connections to Speaker of the House Tim Moore and Senate President Phil Berger (R-Rockingham County).
Although the court's formal written order has not been made available in the North Carolina eCourts system as of Monday, attorneys for both the defense and the plaintiff confirmed that the judge upheld his dismissal at a May 30 hearing.
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An attorney for the defendants, W. Ellis Boyle, said, 'The Court got the right answer and acted completely properly as expected of a judicial officer. Plaintiff's claims never had any credibility and were always a vehicle for an improper lawfare attack against political foes. Lawyers should not countenance such abuses of the legal process deploying sleight of hand.'
Alicia Jurney, an attorney for Travis, pushed back on claims that she and fellow attorneys Kimberly Bryan and Stephanie Jenkins acted improperly.
'Any assertion that Ms. Bryan, Ms. Jenkins, or I acted improperly is false,' Jurney said. 'We have fully complied with the Rules of Professional Conduct. Every document filed on behalf of Mr. Travis has been well grounded in fact, supported by the law, and in good faith in pursuit of Mr. Travis's defamation claims against the defendants.'
Travis's legal team plans to appeal the dismissal and the order upholding it.
Boyle told FOX8 that the court announced sanctions against the plaintiff for placing otherwise unattainable discovery into a defamation claim; Jurney, however, tells FOX8 that the judge said he would take the recommendation under advisement and that the court had not followed up with any further communication regarding sanctions, which she says would have no basis.
FOX8 is working to obtain further details from Wake County court.
In the original lawsuit, Travis, an outspoken opponent of a proposed casino in Rockingham County, says he chose not to run for reelection to the Board of Commissioners in 2022 due to his belief in term limits. However, in 2023, he said that multiple citizens, who also opposed the casino, reached out to him and inspired him to run again.
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Ultimately, Travis came in fourth in the Republican primary and did not advance to the general election with the top three vote-getters. He garnered 5,506 votes, three votes short of Kevin Berger's 5,509.
In the lawsuit, Travis alleges that his loss was due to defamation by the defendants.
'When the plaintiff campaigned on his opposition to the pro-casino measures supported by the incumbent Commissioners and opposed by the majority of residents of Rockingham County, the defendant Commissioners sought to discredit him by publishing defamatory statements to voters in the 2024 Republican primary election,' the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit lays out Travis's belief that Kevin Berger and other members of the board acted inappropriately in their attempts to bring a casino to Rockingham County, including closed-door meetings that would violate North Carolina statute and multiple donations from lobbyists and officials associated with
In a motion filed to issue a protective order against Travis after the plaintiff filed multiple subpoenas in quick succession, the defendants stated, 'Although the Complaint characterizes this action as a defamation lawsuit against county commissioners, it opens with a 17-page story about the alleged politics and lobbying surrounding the legalization of casinos in North Carolina, and no connection to any purported defamation.'
Travis claims that the defendants' campaign messages and social media posts about his candidacy rose above typical political mudslinging due to his opposition to the casino proposition.
'The false statements made about Mr. Travis in the False Attack Ads, Facebook posts, email, and other communications described herein constitute more than the mere vituperation and name-calling that is characteristic of political campaigns and protected by the First Amendment,' the lawsuit said. 'These false statements were made with actual malice and intended to harm Mr. Travis's reputation in Rockingham County by lowering Mr. Travis in the estimation of potential voters in the 2024 Board of Commissioners election through deliberate deception and deterring them from supporting his campaign.'
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According to the suit, a clip of Travis speaking was deceptively edited to remove context so that it would falsely appear that Travis intended to raise taxes in Rockingham County.
Mailers allegedly accused Travis of opposing budget increases for the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office, which the former commissioner said was not true.
GOPAC filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, in which they wrote that they 'did not make any of the statements alleged in the Complaint in Craig Travis v. P. Kevin Berger et al. It did not send the text messages or mailers referenced in the Complaint.'
Beginning on Feb. 8, 2022, and continuing through March 5, 2024, the lawsuit said, 'Defendant [Donald] Powell falsely stated to many people that Mr. Travis had vandalized his vehicle.' Those claims include an alleged accusation that Travis ripped the valve stems out of the tires on Powell's vehicle, which was not true, according to the suit.
The lawsuit alleges that Kevin Berger, Powell, Richardson and Parnell told others that Travis had stolen campaign signs for the other candidates running for the Board of Commissioners.
In a filing submitted in support of a motion to dismiss, the defendant's legal team argued that Travis's lawsuit repeatedly accuses individuals of making defamatory comments but does not state to whom those comments were made. The lawsuit does not identify individuals to whom Powell allegedly told that Travis had ripped out the valve stem or to whom Kevin Berger, Powell and Richardson allegedly told that Travis had stolen campaign signs.
According to the filing, Parnell allegedly said on Facebook, 'When you do not see signs for [Powell], [Kevin Berger], Ben Curtis and [Richardson], they have been stolen. Signs put out at 5 and gone by 8… signs replaced… and the 'dark side' is out there again… stealing campaign signs…'
The suit claims that Parnell's Facebook friends and followers would recognize that she was using 'the dark side' to refer to Travis based on Parnell's previous statements on her Facebook page, in private messages and in personal conversations.
Removing campaign signs that were placed legally is a .
The defendants argue that the accusations described in the lawsuit do not meet the legal standard for defamation.
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Travis states in the lawsuit that these statements and accusations, which he says are false and stem from his opposition to the casino project, contributed not only to his loss in the primary but also to a loss of his good reputation within Rockingham County.
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