NC House Speaker sued for alienation of affection

A former Apex Town Council member claims North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore had an affair with his wife for more than three years, resulting in the “destruction” of his marriage.

On Sunday, Scott Lassiter, an assistant principal for the Wake County Public School System, filed a lawsuit against North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, alleging that he had a relationship with Lassiter’s wife, Jamie Liles Lassiter.

Lassiter, an Apex councilman from 2011 to 2015, currently serves on the Wake Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors. He ran in the Republican primary for a seat in the state House of Representatives last year, but suspended his campaign after the election districts changed.

Liles Lassiter is Executive Director of the North Carolina Conference of Clerks of Superior Court. The couple married in 2013, according to the lawsuit.

In the lawsuit, Lassiter claims that “Moore used his position as one of the most powerful elected officials in North Carolina to entice Plaintiff’s wife, (Liles Lassiter), 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.

In a statement to WRAL, Moore described the lawsuit as “baseless.”

“We will vigorously defend this action and pursue all available legal remedies,” Moore said.

Stacy Miller, Moore’s personal attorney, also dismissed the allegations against Moore.

“I look forward to meeting Mr. Lassiter in the courtroom. We are confident the Speaker will be vindicated,” Miller told WRAL.

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.

“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.”

Scott Lassiter didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Moore, who lives in Kings Mountain, has served as speaker since 2015.