Tyrrell leaders seek to avoid depositions about Confederate statue

Tyrrell County commissioners are asking a federal judge to allow them to avoid testifying under oath in a lawsuit related to a Confederate monument outside the county courthouse.

The county filed a motion Monday seeking a protective order that would prevent depositions of current or former commissioners in the case.

US District Judge James Dever issued a May 2025 order allowing the lawsuit to move forward on a federal equal protection claim.

“Now, plaintiffs seek to depose Tyrrell County commissioners regarding the monument,” according to a memorandum supporting Monday’s motion. “The commissioners, however, have legislative privilege from testifying about their decisions regarding the monument because these decisions amount to core policymaking. And the commissioners have not waived this privilege. In turn, this Court should enter a protective order that prohibits the commissioners’ compelled testimony because they have legislative privilege.”

“The Tyrrell County commissioners’ decisions regarding the monument are quintessentially legislative,” the court filing continued. “These decisions affect all county citizens. The decisions reflect ‘broad policy considerations’ following a deliberative process. And these decisions were not administrative and geared toward one person, like a decision to terminate a municipal employee. In turn, the commissioners’ legislative privilege precludes their testimony in this case.”

Commissioners’ previous comments about the monument do not amount to a waiver of the legislative privilege, their lawyers argued. “The Tyrrell County commissioners have not testified ‘fully and completely’ regarding their policymaking decisions surrounding the monument. Their comments at public meetings reflect ordinary legislative business that does not amount to waiver.”

Dever’s order last spring allowed one of two pieces of the original lawsuit to proceed.

The Concerned Citizens of Tyrrell County, a group of mostly “elderly Black residents,” filed suit in May 2024 against the county. An amended complaint from September 2024 asked for the removal or covering of one phrase engraved on the monument. It says “in appreciation of our faithful slaves.”

Critics argued that the county’s refusal to address the monument’s offending phrase violated the plaintiffs’ right to equal protection of the laws and the equal right to hold property. Tyrrell County filed a motion in October 2024 to dismiss the lawsuit.

Dever allowed the equal protection complaint to move forward while dismissing the equal-right-to-hold-property claim.

“[P]laintiffs plausibly allege that the ‘faithful slaves’ engraving has a racially disproportionate impact on black residents of Tyrrell County,” Dever wrote. “Tyrrell County provides no contrary argument. Plaintiffs also plausibly allege that an invidious discriminatory intent motivated Tyrrell County to install the ‘faithful slaves’ engraving in 1902.”

Dever rejected the county’s argument that a 2024 state court ruling about a Confederate monument in Alamance County prevented any action to remove or change the Tyrrell statue.

“The North Carolina Court of Appeals held that a county commission had no power to relocate Confederate Civil War monuments under North Carolina’ s Monument Protection Law,” Dever wrote. “Here, plaintiffs challenge ‘Tyrrell County’s public, textual expression of appreciation for “Faithful Slaves” and nothing more.’ Alamance County does not bar Tyrrell County from covering or altering the ‘faithful slaves’ engraving, which is plaintiffs’ requested relief. Thus, Alamance County does not help Tyrrell County.”

While the lawsuit could proceed, Dever offered no hint about the case’s final outcome. “Whether plaintiffs’ claim will survive summary judgment is a question for another day,” he wrote.

The judge rejected monument critics’ arguments that the offensive language impaired their equal right to hold property.

“[P]laintiffs fail to plausibly allege that Tyrrell County impaired a personally held property interest of Concerned Citizens or its members,” Dever wrote. “The United States Supreme Court has only recognized equal-right-to-hold-property claims where a plaintiff has plausibly alleged that a defendant has impaired a plaintiff’s personally held property interest.”

“Plaintiffs fail to plausibly allege that the ‘faithful slaves’ engraving impairs any property interest owned by Concerned Citizens or its members. Moreover, plaintiffs fail to plausibly allege that they own a personally held property interest in the courthouse grounds,” the order continued.

“Here, plaintiffs contend that they are ‘demoralize[ed]’ and ‘stigmatiz[ed]’ by the ‘faithful Slaves’ engraving because it is a ‘physical badge of slavery,’” Dever wrote. “Plaintiffs, however, fail to plausibly allege that these harms rise to ‘more than an inconvenience’ or have more than a ‘minimal effect’ on their hypothetical property interests.”

Dever rejected the county’s argument that it had “legislative immunity.” “According to Tyrrell County, decisions concerning the ‘faithful slaves’ engraving are subject to ‘local legislative powers’ and deserve vicarious legislative immunity,” he wrote. “The Fourth Circuit squarely rejected this argument three decades ago.”

“Tyrrell leaders seek to avoid depositions about Confederate statue” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.