Stay sought in case of NC senator working for wrongfully convicted men

A law firm is asking North Carolina’s second-highest court for a temporary stay in a suit brought by a state senator last year on behalf of two wrongfully convicted men.

Sen. Danny Britt, R-Robeson, is asking the North Carolina Court of Appeals to reject the stay requested by Hall Booth Smith, a firm with offices in 14 states including North Carolina.

Britt sued the firm and two of its lawyers in August 2025 in Robeson County. The suit is tied to Britt’s work on behalf of Henry McCollum and Leon Brown. The half-brothers spent 31 years in prison after being convicted of raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl in Robeson County in 1983. Both men were exonerated with the help of DNA evidence in 2014.

When they sued for wrongful conviction, they reached settlements with the town of Red Springs and the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office. A jury awarded them $75 million in 2021 against two remaining defendants, former State Bureau of Investigation agents who were part of the original investigation.

Since May 2024, McCollum and Brown have had a court-ordered “receiver” with authority to pursue lawsuits to help generate money to cover the jury award. Britt joined that effort in August 2025.

Less than two weeks after his appointment, Britt filed the suit against Hall Booth Smith and lawyers Scott MacLatchie and Adam Peoples. Britt “claims capacity to act as the court-appointed receiver for ‘recovery of damages proximately caused by HBS’s deficient legal representation’” of McCollum and Brown, according to a court filing Friday from the law firm.

HBS and its lawyers have moved to dismiss Britt’s suit on the basis of “improper venue.” “[T]his action is being prosecuted in the wrong court and by a purported co-receiver whose appointment conflicts with the governing statute under which he contends to derive his authority,” the firm’s lawyers wrote.

The trial judge in the Robeson County case has ordered discovery to move forward. “That order threatens immediate and irreparable harm,” HBS argued. “The defendants are being compelled to litigate in the very forum they contend lacks authority to entertain this supplementary proceeding. Worse still, North Carolina law recognizes that venue objections may be waived through litigation conduct, including even limited participation in discovery. Thus, absent intervention from this [Appeals] Court, the defendants face an untenable choice: refuse to participate in discovery and risk sanctions, or comply with the trial court’s orders and risk forfeiting the venue rights they seek to vindicate on appeal.”

In addition to a temporary stay, the law firm seeks an order called a writ of supersedeas that would block all action in the Robeson County case during the appeal.

“This Court should deny a temporary stay,” Britt’s lawyers wrote in response.

“Henry McCollum and Leon Brown each served thirty-one years for crimes they did not commit,” Britt’s lawyers added. “Following a federal jury trial, they hold an unsatisfied judgment against the two SBI agents who wrongly put them there. After the judgment was entered, United States District Judge Terrence W. Boyle appointed Senator Danny Britt as receiver to pursue the agents’ malpractice claims.”

“The appointment order expressly authorized Britt to bring those claims ‘in any appropriate county in state court, including any co-receiver’s county of residence,” the court filing continued. “Britt then commenced this action in Robeson County, where he lives, on 21 August 2025 — a year ago. The Defendants have not answered the complaint, and they’ve refused to participate in discovery.”

“The Defendants now ask this Court to stay all discovery while the Defendants’ interlocutory appeal is decided,” Britt’s lawyers added. “The trial court declined to stay discovery, and it said why: It ‘reasonably determined that discovery is not a matter embraced by the interlocutory order from which Defendants have appealed,’ and it found that staying discovery, ‘even in this Court’s discretion, would needlessly delay and prolong this litigation.’”

Britt’s lawyers labeled HBS’ arguments “a collateral attack on a federal-court order, which isn’t permitted. If the Defendants don’t like Judge Boyle’s order, they can take it up with Judge Boyle.”

“The Defendants also can’t show irreparable harm,” Britt’s lawyers added.

“Stay sought in case of NC senator working for wrongfully convicted men” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.