CNN wants Mark Robinson’s defamation suit moved to federal court
The lawsuit Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson filed against CNN last month was improperly filed in state court and should be moved to federal court, the network said in a legal filing Friday.
In a notice for removal, CNN said the lawsuit should be moved from Wake County Superior Court to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, arguing that Robinson’s action against the network included unrelated claims against another defendant that shouldn’t be a part of the suit.
Robinson sued CNN last month for its report from September that linked him to a series of racist, disturbing and sexually graphic comments on an online pornography forum made a decade ago, and upended a governor’s race in which the Republican was already trailing Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein.
On Election Day, voters chose Stein to serve as the state’s next governor over Robinson by nearly 15 percentage points, even as they backed Donald Trump in the presidential race for a third time, helping secure him another term in the White House, and elected certain other statewide GOP candidates.
In addition to CNN, Robinson’s lawsuit named Louis Love Money, a former employee at a Greensboro adult video store who told The Assembly that the now-GOP lieutenant governor was a frequent customer at porn shops in the area several years ago.
In its court filing on Friday, which was first reported by Courthouse News, CNN said Robinson’s claims against the network are “meritless,” and added that it will argue that in court “in due course.”
In the meantime, it said, the suit should be moved to federal court because CNN isn’t based in North Carolina, and Robinson’s claims against Money are not related to his claims against CNN. The network said Robinson’s claims against each defendant represent “two different cases” that have improperly been joined together.
“CNN is not affiliated with Money in any way. There is no allegation that anyone at CNN has even spoken to Money at any time ever,” the network stated in the filing. “And the allegedly defamatory statements Robinson claims Money made are different in content than those he claims CNN made.”
“In short, Robinson’s claims against Money have nothing to do with Robinson’s claims against CNN,” the network said.
Attorneys for Robinson did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Saturday. Mark Nebrig, an attorney for CNN, declined to comment.
Money had previously filed a motion to dismiss in Wake County Superior Court.
A hearing had been scheduled for Monday to consider that motion, but the court advised parties on Friday that the case wouldn’t be heard on Monday “due to consolidation of trial and motion calendars,” according to online court records.
The court said a new date for the hearing would be announced on Tuesday.
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This story was originally published November 16, 2024 at 1:23 PM.
