RALEIGH — N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore is being sued over claims he engaged in a years-long affair resulting to the end of a Wake County Soil and Water Supervisor’s marriage, according to news reports.
Scott Lassiter, an assistant principal for the Wake County Public School System, filed the lawsuit on Sunday alleging Moore had a relationship with Lassiter’s wife, Jamie Liles Lassiter. Liles Lassiter is Executive Director of the North Carolina Conference of Clerks of Superior Court and couple married in 2013, according to court documents.
The lawsuit, filed in Wake County Superior Court, says Moore “used his position as one of the most powerful elected officials in North Carolina to entice Plaintiff’s wife, a mid-level employee of the state government, to participate in an illicit relationship with him.”
North Carolina is one of the few states that allows jilted spouses to sue someone for interfering in their marriage. Scott Lassiter is seeking in excess of $25,000 in damages.
“This is a baseless lawsuit from a troubled individual. We will vigorously defend this action and pursue all available legal remedies,” said Moore in a statement provided to North State Journal.
In a statement to WRAL, Liles Lassiter cast the lawsuit as “punitive” and suggested that Moore is not to blame for their estrangement. “The claims are not only false but impossible as we’ve been separated with a signed separation document for years,” she said to the television station.
“Our marriage was a nightmare, and since I left him it has gotten worse,” she continued. “We are reaching the end of our divorce process and this is how he’s lashing out.”
Lassiter attorney released the following statement: “The complaint speaks for itself. There is irrefutable evidence to support Mr. Lassiter’s claims.”
