RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A former porn store employee accused of defamation by North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson has asked a court to dismiss the lawsuit against him, dismissing the politician’s allegations bizarre’ and calling his demand for at least $50 million in damages a violation of civil court rules.
Robinson, the Republican candidate for governor, filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Wake County Superior Court against CNN and Louis Love Money of Greensboro, alleging they published “disgusting lies” about him.
The lawsuit uncovered a CNN report last month that Robinson posted explicit racist and sexual messages on the message board of a pornographic website more than a decade ago. Weeks before CNN’s report, Money claimed in a music video and in a media interview that for several years starting in the 1990s, Robinson frequented a porn store where Money worked, and that Robinson bought pornographic videos from him.
Attorneys for Money said Wednesday in filing a motion to dismiss that Robinson’s lawsuit violated a procedural rule that requires a person seeking punitive damages to initially file a claim for monetary damages “in excess of $25,000.”
The motion states that the rule is intended to “prevent excessive demands from leaking publicly into the media and impairing the course of justice.” The rule violation, attorneys Andrew Fitzgerald and Peter Zellmer wrote, may have been “for the purpose of creating media attention for Mr. Robinson’s campaign.”
Otherwise, the attorneys are also seeking dismissal on the grounds that the allegations in the lawsuit, even if true, fail to establish a cause of action against Money.
“The complaint contains many brazen and bizarre allegations,” they wrote.
Asked for a response to the motion, Robinson’s campaign pointed to Tuesday’s press release announcing the lawsuit. In it, Robinson said claims made by “scammers like Louis Love Money are salacious tabloid trash.”
Money said Tuesday that he stood by what he had said as truthful. CNN declined to comment on the lawsuit when it was filed and had not responded to it in court as of Thursday afternoon.
Robinson is running against Democratic candidate Josh Stein in the campaign to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.
The CNN report prompted many fellow GOP elected officials and candidates, including presidential candidate Donald Trump, to distance themselves from Robinson’s gubernatorial campaign. Most of the top staff running Robinson’s campaign and his lieutenant governor’s office quit after the CNN report, and the Republican Governors Association stopped supporting Robinson’s bid.
The network report said it linked details of the message board account to other online accounts owned by Robinson by comparing usernames, a known email address and his full name. CNN also reported that details discussed by the account holder matched Robinson’s age, length of marriage and other biographical information.
The lawsuit alleges that CNN published its report despite knowing, or recklessly ignoring, that Robinson’s personal information had previously been compromised in data breaches.
