DICKSON v. RUCHO

No. 201PA12.

737 S.E.2d 362 (2013)

Margaret DICKSON, Alicia Chisolm, Ethel Clark, Matthew A. McLean, Melissa Lee Rollizo, C. David Gantt, Valeria Truitt, Alice Graham Underhill, Armin Jancis, Rebecca Judge, Zettie Williams, Tracey Burns-Vann, Lawrence Campbell, Robinson O. Everett, Jr., Linda Garrou, Hayes McNeill, Jim Shaw, Sidney E. Dunston, Alma Adams, R. Steve Bowden, Jason Edward Coley, Karl Bertrand Fields, Pamlyn Stubbs, Don Vaughan, Bob Etheridge, George Graham, Jr., Thomas M. Chumley, Aisha Dew, Geneal Gregory, Vilma Leake, Rodney W. Moore, Brenda Martin Stevenson, Jane Whitley, I.T. ("tim") Valentine, Lois Watkins, Richard Joyner, Melvin C. McLawhorn, Randall S. Jones, Bobby Charles Townsend, Albert Kirby, Terrence Williams, Norman C. Camp, Mary F. Poole, Stephen T. Smith, Philip A. Baddour, And Douglas A. Wilson v. Robert RUCHO, in his official capacity only as the Chairman of the North Carolina Senate Redistricting Committee; David Lewis, in his official capacity only as the Chairman of the North Carolina House of Representatives Redistricting Committee; Nelson Dollar, in his official capacity only as the Co-Chairman of the North Carolina House of Representatives Redistricting Committee; Jerry Dockham, in his official capacity only as the Co-Chairman of the North Carolina House of Representatives Redistricting Committee; Philip E. Berger, in his official capacity only as the President Pro Tempore of the North Carolina Senate; Thom Tillis, in his official capacity only as the Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives; The State Board of Elections; and the State of North Carolina. North Carolina State Conference of Branches of the NAACP, League of Women Voters of North Carolina, Democracy North Carolina, North Carolina A. Philip Randolph Institute, Reva McNair, Matthew Davis, Tressie Stanton, Anne Wilson, Sharon Hightower, Kay Brandon, Goldie Wells, Gray Newman, Yvonne Stafford, Robert Dawkins, Sara Stohler, Hugh Stohler, Octavia Rainey, Charles Hodge, Marshall Hardy, Martha Gardenhight, Ben Taylor, Keith Rivers, Romallus O. Murphy, Carl White, Rosa Brodie, Herman Lewis, Clarence Albert, Jr., Evester Bailey, Albert Brown, Benjamin Lanier, Gilbert Vaughn, Avie Lester, Theodore Muchiteni, William Hobbs, Jimmie Ray Hawkins, Horace P. Bullock, Roberta Waddle, Christina Davis-McCoy, James Oliver Williams, Margaret Speed, Larry Laverne Brooks, Carolyn S. Allen, Walter Rogers, Sr., Shawn Meachem, Mary Green Bonaparte, Samuel Love, Courtney Patterson, Willie O. Sinclair, Cardes Henry Brown, Jr., and Jane Stephens v. The State of North Carolina; The North Carolina State Board of Elections; Thom Tillis, in his official capacity as Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives; and Philip E. Berger, in his official capacity as President Pro Tempore of the North Carolina Senate.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

January 25, 2013.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Poyner Spruill LLP, Raleigh, by Edwin M. Speas, Jr. , for Dickson plaintiff-appellees; and Edwin M. Speas, Jr., Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Durham, by Anita S. Earls , and Ferguson Stein Chambers Gresham & Sumter, P.A., Chapel Hill, by Adam Stein , for NC NAACP plaintiff-appellees.

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C., by Raleigh, by Thomas A. Farr and Phillip J. Strach , for legislative defendant-appellants; and Roy Cooper , Attorney General, by Alexander McC. Peters and Susan K. Nichols , Special Deputy Attorneys General, for all defendant-appellants.

Bussian Law Firm, PLLC, Raleigh, by John A. Bussian , for North Carolina Press Association, Inc.; and Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, L.L.P., by Raleigh, by Mark J. Prak , for North Carolina Association of Broadcasters, Inc., amici curiae.

Stevens Martin Vaughn & Tadych, PLLC, by Raleigh, by Hugh Stevens , for The North Carolina Open Government Coalition, Inc., amicus curiae.


JACKSON, Justice.

In this appeal we consider whether section 120-133 of the North Carolina General Statutes waives the right of legislators to assert the attorney-client privilege or work-product doctrine in litigation concerning redistricting. Because any waiver of such well-established legal principles must be clear and unambiguous, we conclude that the statute's silence on such waivers renders the statute ambiguous as to this issue. After further analysis, we conclude...

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