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Judge dismisses defamation suit tied to casino push in North Carolina

Sunday, May 18, 2025 3:43 PM
Photo: Shutterstock
  • Dan Kane, The News & Observer

A state judge has dismissed a defamation case tied to last year’s Rockingham County commissioners’ election, a decision that also has the potential to close off more details about a legislative push to land three casinos in that North Carolina county and two others.

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Special Superior Court Judge Hoyt Tessener did not give a detailed explanation for dismissing the lawsuit. It was filed by Craig Travis, who narrowly lost the Republican primary for a commissioner’s seat last year. Tessener’s one-page decision, filed late Friday afternoon, sided with the arguments the defendants’ attorneys made that the lawsuit failed to state a claim the court could act upon and lacked jurisdiction in the case of one defendant.