The Richmond County Board of Education wants the courts in North Carolina to help them get a $272,300 ruling against the state government that was made 10 years ago. The state Court of Appeals will hear the case.
At first, in June 2014, a judge found in favor of the Richmond County schools. In October 2016, a second judge set the amount at $272,300. The bill has not been paid by state leaders.
The case began in court in February 2012. The state attorney general, the accountant, the budget director, the public safety secretary, and the treasurer were all sued by the school board in Richmond County. The first defendants were all Democrats, and none of them still hold the same job.
According to a lawsuit filed in February 2024 in Wake County Superior Court, the $50.00 improper equipment violation fee that was put in place by the North Carolina General Assembly in 2011 was unconstitutional because it collected a fine in Richmond County and took the fine out of the Richmond County School Fund and put it into the State of North Carolina’s general revenue.
The state treasurer, controller, budget director, public safety secretary, and attorney general are all named as defendants in this year’s case.
Trial and appellate judges turned down the state’s claim of sovereign immunity as a reason to throw out the original case. On June 27, 2014, Judge Michael Morgan of the Superior Court at the time gave the school board summary judgment.
The 2024 complaint says that the court decided that the $50.00 improper equipment violation fee is a fine and not a court cost. It also says that the fee is subject to the North Carolina Constitution, Article IX, Section 7(a), and that G.S. § 7A-304(a)(4b) is against that section.
Article IX, Section 7(a) of the North Carolina Constitution says that the “clear proceeds of all penalties and forfeitures and of all fines collected in the several counties for any breach of the penal laws of the State shall belong to and remain in the several counties and shall be faithfully appropriated and used exclusively for maintaining free public schools.”
The law that was being questioned was G.S. § 7A-304(a)(4b), which set the fine for breaking the rules about wrong equipment.
The order from Morgan told state officials to “report to Richmond County all $50 improper equipment violation fees collected in Richmond County pursuant to G.S. § 7A-304(a)(4b)” and to pay all of those amounts to Richmond County along with the court costs.
The judge only said what to do in Richmond County. He said no to the school board’s request that his decision be applied to other North Carolina school systems as well.
Morgan became a judge on the state Supreme Court in 2016. He quit his job last year to run for governor as a Democrat. He lost the primary to Josh Stein for Attorney General. Stein is now one of the defendants in the case being brought by the Richmond County schools.
In 2015, the state Appeals Court went along with Morgan’s order. The Richmond County school board went back to court because state officials did nothing to address the court’s ruling.
A judge in Wake County, Donald Stephens, found in favor of the school board in October 2016. Stephens came up with the $272,300 amount.
From 2011 to September 19, 2015, that amount included all $50 equipment fees that Richmond County should not have had to pay under the challenged state law. That day, the General Assembly changed the rule that was being challenged.
Stephens told the state accountant and controller to pay the school board. In November 2016, the state Appeals Court struck down Stephens’ order.
The 2024 lawsuit says that the Appeals Court “acknowledged the validity of the plaintiffs’ judgment.”
However, appellate judges said, “So, when the courts enter a judgment against the state and there are no funds available to satisfy that judgment, the judicial branch has no power to order State Officials to take money from the State Treasury to satisfy it.”
In 2018, the state Supreme Court said it would not hear the Richmond school board’s case.
The February 2024 complaint says, “The defendants have failed to pay in full the $272,300.00 owed to the plaintiff pursuant to the summary judgment Order dated June 27, 2014 by the Honorable Michael R. Morgan, Superior Court Judge, and affirmed by the North Carolina Court of Appeals.”
In this case, the plaintiff, the Richmond County Board of Education, asks that the plaintiff get the main amount of $272,300.00 from the defendants while acting in their official positions. 2. The defendants should pay the bills of this case in their official roles.
In July, Superior Court Judge James Ammons turned down the state’s request to throw out the current lawsuit. The ruling made by Ammons is being appealed by the State Treasurer Dale Folwell and the Controller Nels Roseland.