Former porn store employee calls for dismissal of North Carolina lieutenant governor's defamation lawsuit

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A former porn store employee who has been indicted by North Carolina's governor. Mark Robinson The defamation candidate has asked a court to dismiss the lawsuit against him, calling the politician's allegations “bizarre” and his demand for at least $50 million in damages a violation of civil justice rules.

Robinson, the Republican candidate for governor, filed a lawsuit in Wake County court Tuesday against CNN and Louis Love Money of Greensboro, saying they published “disgusting lies” about him.

The lawsuit cited a CNN report last month that Robinson posted explicitly racist and sexual posts on the message board of a pornography website more than a decade ago. Weeks before the CNN report, Money claimed in a music video and in a media interview that for several years beginning in the 1990s, Robinson visited a porn store where Money worked and that Robinson purchased porn videos from him.

Attorneys for Money said Wednesday in filing a motion to dismiss that Robinson's lawsuit violates a procedural rule that requires a person seeking punitive damages to first file a claim for damages “in excess of $25,000.”

The motion states that the rule is intended to “prevent excessive claims from becoming public in the media and interfering with the judicial process.” Violating the rule, lawyers Andrew Fitzgerald and Peter Zellmer wrote, “could serve the precise purpose of drawing media attention to Mr. Robinson's campaign.”

Otherwise, the lawyers are also asking for a dismissal, arguing that the allegations in the lawsuit, even if true, do not constitute grounds for a lawsuit against Money.

“The complaint contains many outrageous and bizarre allegations,” they wrote.

When asked for a response to the motion, Robinson's campaign referred to Tuesday's press release announcing the lawsuit. In it, Robinson said claims from scammers like Louis Love Money were salacious tabloid garbage.

Money said Tuesday he stands by what he said as true. CNN declined to comment on the lawsuit when it was filed and had not responded to it in court as of midday Thursday.

Robinson is running against Democratic candidate Josh Stein in the election to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.

The CNN report prompted many other elected officials and Republican Party candidates, including presidential candidate Donald Trump, to distance themselves from Robinson's gubernatorial campaign. Most top employees He ran Robinson's campaign and resigned as lieutenant governor after the CNN report, and the Republican Governors Association no longer supported Robinson's bid.

The network report said the message board account's details were matched to Robinson's other online accounts by comparing usernames, a known email address and his full name. CNN also reported that the 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 knowing or recklessly ignoring that Robinson's personal information had previously been compromised by data breaches.