In a split 2-1 vote, the North Carolina Court of Appeals rejected a lawsuit challenging the removal of a Confederate monument from the Pitt County courthouse.
The decision upheld a trial judge’s 2024 decision in the case.
The monument was removed from the courthouse property in June 2020, after it was damaged during a local protest, and the Sons of the Confederate Veterans, United Daughters of the Confederacy, and seven individuals filed a lawsuit concerning the removal.
The Appeals Court’s majority ruled that none of them had legal standing to bring the lawsuit against Pitt County.
Judge John Arrowood wrote in the ruling the plaintiffs failed to identify a legally protected interest in the monument.
Judge Jeff Carpenter joined Arrowood’s opinion. Judge John Tyson dissented.
He would have vacated the trial judge’s ruling and sent the case back to make supported findings and conclusions.
