Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson moved to have his defamation lawsuit against CNN returned to state court after the case was removed to federal court in November.
In a motion filed Monday, attorneys for Robinson argued the cable network failed to meet its burden when it filed for the case’s removal to the District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. They wrote that CNN failed to establish that it had the “unambiguous consent” of a former pornography store employee — Louis Love Money, the other defendant in the suit — and that its assertion the claims against Money and CNN were improperly combined into a single lawsuit lacked support.
“CNN’s notice of removal is woefully insufficient,” Robinson’s attorneys wrote. “Even ignoring the procedural deficiency of not establishing unanimous consent, CNN ignored key holdings from controlling authority about the standard for establishing fraudulent joinder.”
The motion pointed to a statement that “this notice is filed with the consent of all Defendants” in the removal notice, which it argued was inadequate as it did not explicitly reference Money.
Robinson requested the case be returned to the Superior Court of Wake County, where it was initially filed, and that CNN pay reasonable attorneys’ fees for the additional expense of the fight over removal. CNN gave notice of removal to federal court on Nov. 14 and a week later, moved to dismiss the case on the grounds that Robinson’s allegations did not meet the legal standard of defamation.
Once a notice of removal is filed by a defendant, the federal court immediately takes over jurisdiction of the case — moving to remand the case back to state court, as Robinson did Monday, is the first opportunity a plaintiff has to oppose such a procedure.
In the initial notice of removal, CNN argued it was improper for its statements to be challenged in the same case as Money’s, as the media company “is not affiliated with Money in any way,” nor did anyone from the company interview him. His claims — that Robinson was a frequent customer of the Greensboro porn store where he worked and spent exorbitant amounts of money in doing so — were first published by The Assembly.
“Money is named in this lawsuit for one purpose and one purpose only — to defeat diversity jurisdiction and preclude removal,” attorneys for CNN wrote. Robinson’s gambit, however, fails because Money is fraudulently joined in this action. Not only is there no connection between Money and CNN, but also there is no possibility that Robinson can succeed on his claims against Money. Jurisdiction is, therefore, proper in this Court.”
Because CNN is a Delaware corporation and headquartered in Atlanta, the only reason Robinson was able to bring his claims against the company in North Carolina state court in the first place is by bringing them alongside the claims against Money, who is a North Carolina resident.
Attorneys for Robinson wrote that it was not improper to bring the claims in a single lawsuit as the allegedly defamatory statements were “close in time and subject matter,” a standard that has been used to unite other suits lacking a direct connection between defendants under Fourth Circuit law.
Because “the false allegations from CNN and Money, directly and by implication, both suggest that Lt. Gov. Robinson is a sexual deviant,” his attorneys argue, and both came in the immediate lead-up to the election, he will have to make very similar legal arguments in both — necessitating a joint suit.
The outcome of this motion will determine where the legal battle over CNN’s bombshell report that exposed years of controversial comments from an account linked to Robinson on the porn forum Nude Africa — including statements that he was “a black NAZI!” and spied on women’s showers in his youth — will take place.
Robinson has vehemently denied that the account, under the username “minisoldr,” belongs to him. He alleges that the report is defamatory under the “actual malice” standard — in other words, that its claims are false and were published with “reckless disregard” for the truth. After the report, Robinson’s campaign leadership resigned en masse and he collapsed in the polls, setting the stage for a 15-point landslide victory by Attorney General Josh Stein.
CNN noted that Robinson had used the same username on other websites, including in a screenshot on his personal Facebook account, and that the account on Nude Africa listed the name “mark robinson,” his email address, and his hometown of Greensboro.
Robinson may have undercut his protests last week outside of the courtroom. The Assembly reported that when he attended a meeting of the Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies through Google Meet, the username he joined with was a familiar one: “minisoldr.”