CARTHAGE, N.C. (CN) - A clerk, his political opponent and a judge made their first appearance in court Friday in a convoluted political defamation case. 

Todd Maness, the clerk of court in Moore County, North Carolina, sued the county's District Court Judge Donna "Beth" Tanner in January, along with his opponent in the Republican primary, Deborah Duerring. 

Judge Tanner attempted to turn public opinion against Maness, he said in his suit, and told others he wasn't performing his elected duties in an attempt to have him removed from office. 

Judge Tanner contacted Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Michael Stone, saying she heard rumors Maness had not begun forming a jury commission and asking that it be dissolved, which would halt jury trials in Moore County. Duerring, who ran against Maness in the primaries, later repeated those comments in a speech.

Maness says the statements were defamatory. He also claims Judge Tanner refused to appear for scheduled court dates, held court on designated "chamber days" and encouraged private attorneys to use other mediators to promote her husband's meditation business.

Tanner called the claims "baseless" and said Maness is unable to prove actual malice was at play, a requirement in defamation cases involving public figures. In a motion to dismiss, she said she never solicited business for her husband, attended all required court proceedings, and that her communications with Stone should be privileged because of judicial immunity.

In the heated docket, both Tanner and Maness are pushing for the other to be sanctioned. The defendants want the case removed to a county 80 miles away. Maness claims Tanner is trying to "judge shop" and is friends with the judge in the county where she wants the case moved. 

In the case's first hearing on Friday, tensions were high. 

The case is going to be "one of the most bizarre things you will ever see," Duerring's attorney Michael Newman told Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Joseph Crosswhite, who serves in Iredell and Alexander County and presided over the hearing. 

Maness dismissed his claim against his Duerring while he was driving to court, Newman said. Newman also accused Maness of manipulating his position as clerk to retaliate against his political opponent. A certification of service was filed yesterday that included highly sensitive data that the clerk's office should have redacted, Newman said, including Duerring's Social Security number, driver's license information, birthday, weight and height. 

"He filed it in his own personal case because he controls the clerk's office," Newman said, adding that Maness was attempting to embarrass her and may have directed a deputy clerk to file it unredacted.

Maness didn't work yesterday, his attorney, Michael Porter, shot back, adding that the defendants' behavior has been "reprehensible" and that they are filing "junk" in the record.

"Judge Tanner's motive was to defame my client," Porter said, adding that there's no "secret cabal" that involves Maness, Porter, and Judge Stone.   

The case escalated after Tanner filed a motion claiming Maness' attorney, Porter, engaged in ex parte communications with Judge Stone. She said Porter drafted an administrative order for Stone, who, in turn, agreed to dismiss a contempt proceeding against Maness. Porter was also representing Stone in an unrelated case.

The defendants want Stone to recuse himself or be disqualified from hearing the case. In court filings, Stone said he was insulted by the idea of presiding over the case.

"They've accused us of all kinds of things," Porter said in court. "Like we're the mafia or something."

The defendants are attempting to move the court to a different county. If a business court judge were brought in instead, they would have to work with people who are intimately involved in the case, Alicia Jurney, counsel for Judge Tanner, said.

"We wouldn't want any judge brought in to have to weigh the credibility of the senior resident judge of the county they're in," she said.

The allegations against Judge Stone and Porter are "supported by the docket," Jurney added, asking if the court is supposed to believe that clerks are regularly allowing documents with Social Security numbers to be docketed. 

A business court judge can't step in in this case because the process to appoint one will require going through Judge Stone, Newman pointed out. 

Judge Crosswhite appeared unconvinced the case could not be handled locally.

"It's going to be a big ask," he said.  

After Jurney and Newman filed documents claiming Judge Stone had ex parte communication with Porter, Judge Stone opened an investigation into Jurney and Newman, the defendants' attorneys, and asked them to prove they didn't violate the rules of professional conduct by making false statements. 

Jurney and Newman asked that he recuse himself and then asked the state Court of Appeals to issue preliminary relief. Judge Stone filed a second order invalidating their request to the Court of Appeals before the appellate court stepped in and paused the investigation. 

A special prosecutor dismissed the investigation earlier this week, finding neither Judge Stone or the attorneys violated the rules of professional conduct. 

But Judge Stone - who is not assigned to the defamation case - has yet to recuse himself from any administrative involvement. The defendants claim that he has been good friends with Maness for years, and has an "adversarial relationship" with Judge Tanner, uploading in the docket a recording of a conversation between Judge Stone and Judge Tanner where Stone threatens to "beat (her) like a fucking drum" if she runs against him. 

Both Maness and Tanner held onto their seats in the Republican primaries earlier in March.

Source: Courthouse News Service