Both sides react to motion to dismiss lawsuit filed by Pender Post newspaper

BURGAW, NC (WWAY) — An ongoing legal battle between the owner of the Pender-Topsail Post & Voice and three Pender County Commissioners took its next step, as the county filed a motion to dismiss the Post’s lawsuit.

“Our lawsuit has information, it has evidence, it has all sorts of things. But their response has nothing but claims.”

Fighting words from Andy Pettigrew, owner of the Post & Voice, who uses his newspaper to hold county leadership accountable.

Back in July, Pettigrew filed a lawsuit, alleging that Commissioners Randy Burton, Vice Chair Brent Springer, and Jerry Groves voted to pull advertising and legal notices from the newspaper.

Pettigrew claims this was done in retaliation for editorials and political cartoons he had published of those commissioners, with the lawsuit stating this violated his First Amendment rights.

Last Friday, October 10th, the county filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

The motion also denied the claims made by Pettigrew.

The response filed by the county argues Pettigrew’s First Amendment rights were not violated because the claims he made in his newspaper were not factual to begin with.

WWAY reached out to Commissioner Burton, who spoke briefly about the dismissal.

“The response that was filed, that you know, that’s in the public realm is, pretty much speaks for itself,” Burton said. “And I don’t really have any comment on pending litigation.”

The county’s response to push for a dismissal was not surprising to Pettigrew.

“We fully expected them to make a motion to dismiss,” Pettigrew said. “That’s the normal course of action for that. Of course, we don’t agree with it or we would have not filed a lawsuit in the beginning.”

The county is requesting a dismissal with prejudice and seeks to have the judge award the defendants their court costs and attorneys’ fees.