A federal judge has sanctioned the North Carolina Department of Justice, run by Attorney General Jeff Jackson, after documenting a history of lawyers from its Public Safety Section repeatedly running afoul of federal court rules.
US Magistrate Judge Robert Numbers issued a 43-page order Friday imposing sanctions that affect the state attorney general himself.
“Few groups have so persistently tested the patience of this state’s federal judiciary as the North Carolina Department of Justice’s Public Safety Section,” Numbers wrote. “From Manteo to Murphy, North Carolina’s federal judges have chided, criticized, and chastised its attorneys for disregarding court orders and the federal rules. Yet the Public Safety Section’s problems persist. Its persistent disregard for the authority of the federal courts and the rule of law is deeply troubling.”
The order arose from a 2022 lawsuit pitting plaintiff Sean Mayo against the Rocky Mount Police Department. Mayo alleged an illegal search of his home and vehicle before he was arrested without a warrant.
Numbers described the Public Safety Section’s actions in the case as “the latest chapter in this unfortunate saga” of continual problems.
“After partially denying summary judgment, the Court set this matter for trial on a Fourth Amendment illegal detention claim,” Numbers explained. “On the eve of the motions-in-limine deadline, Sonya Calloway-Durham, an attorney in the Public Safety Section, filed a motion telling the Court it must dismiss this case. She contended that all of Plaintiff Sean B. Mayo’s federal claims had already been dismissed and only a state-law tort claim remained. And she maintained that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear that claim. Even if a federal claim survived, she argued, the Court could not hear it. Following that motion, the Court postponed trial.”
“By filing that motion, Calloway-Durham violated Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure,” Numbers explained. “The Court had already held that Mayo had not brought any state-law claims. And even if he had, both a federal statute and binding precedent confirm that this Court retains jurisdiction to hear it after dismissing Mayo’s federal claims. These arguments lacked any chance of success, and a reasonable attorney would have recognized that shortcoming.”
“The Court further concludes that she filed the motion to unnecessarily delay trial,” Numbers continued. “Shortly before she filed the motion, she acknowledged that her workload and personal lawsuit left her unprepared for trial. Calloway-Durham’s explanations for her conduct were unpersuasive, largely because she did not know the standard the Court must apply when evaluating a Rule 11 violation.”
Numbers’ criticism extended beyond Calloway-Durham.
“Since the Court found that one of its employees violated Rule 11, it must hold NCDOJ jointly responsible for the violation unless exceptional circumstances are present,” he wrote. “NCDOJ leadership described recent efforts to improve the Public Safety Section’s performance. But they made no attempt to show that exceptional circumstances existed here. This too seems to stem from the fact that they did not know the standard the Court would apply. So the Court holds NCDOJ jointly liable for Calloway-Durham’s conduct.”
Sanctions spelled out in Numbers’ order were designed to “address these violations and deter similar conduct.”
“First, it formally admonishes both Calloway-Durham and NCDOJ,” the judge wrote. “Second, the Court will require that, for the next year, all of Calloway-Durham’s filings in federal court must be co-signed by someone who will attest that the filing complies with Rule 11. Third, in light of disclosures made at the Show Cause Hearing, the Court will refer Calloway-Durham to the North Carolina State Bar for investigation of a potential disability.”
“Finally, the Attorney General of the State of North Carolina must prepare a report outlining the steps he will take to address the Public Safety Section’s deficiencies,” Numbers wrote. “These sanctions are sufficient, but not greater than necessary, to deter Calloway-Durham and other attorneys from engaging in similar conduct.”
Numbers explained that the state Justice Department’s problems date back further than Calloway-Durham’s actions in the Mayo case.
“While its liability stems as a legal matter from the fact that it employs Calloway-Durham, as a factual matter its liability stems from its failure to adequately staff, train, and supervise the Public Safety Section for several years,” he wrote.
“NCDOJ’s failure to provide adequate oversight of the Public Safety Section is not isolated to Calloway-Durham,” Numbers added. “It permeates the Public Safety Section.”
An excuse Calloway-Durham offered in the Mayo case “has been raised by Public Safety Section attorneys throughout North Carolina for over half a decade,” the judge wrote. “The Public Safety Section’s repeated failure to follow orders, comply with local rules, meet deadlines, and otherwise perform adequately has been noted by North Carolina’s federal judges.”
“These problems persist even after federal judges have imposed financial sanctions on NCDOJ and its attorneys,” Numbers added.
“This history establishes that sanctions are warranted against NCDOJ,” he wrote. “The failure to properly supervise Calloway-Durham is not an isolated event. Instead, the Public Safety Section’s attorneys have often failed to meet their professional obligations in litigation across the state. These repeated and widespread failings establish that NCDOJ has willfully failed to adequately supervise the Public Safety Section.”
“The Court can no longer ignore these long-standing issues,” Numbers wrote. “They have gone on for too long, involved too many attorneys, and impacted too many proceedings. And allowing NCDOJ and its attorneys to continue to avoid sanctions is disrespectful to the members of the bar who arrange their professional and personal lives to comply with their obligations to the Court. If the federal courts will tolerate this repeated conduct from NCDOJ, how can they legitimately sanction other attorneys who fail to follow their orders?”
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