A politically connected couple that has given tens of thousands of dollars to Republican politicians and causes got a win from the GOP majority on the North Carolina Supreme Court on Friday — when the court gave their case new life even while also noting that many of their claims were “meritless as a matter of law.”

The ruling was 5-2, a party-line decision with the court’s Republican justices siding with the family and the Democratic justices writing that they would’ve upheld the previous court decisions against them.

The case could lead to statewide consequences, WRAL reported during oral arguments for the case in October. It could possibly pave the way for more lawsuits against private schools over their decisions over who to enroll or not — and, more broadly, against other private businesses that choose to cut customers loose.

At its heart is a dispute between one prominent Charlotte couple and the prestigious private school their children used to attend.

The ruling in their favor had been urged on by more than a dozen Republican politicians representing North Carolina in Congress or the state legislature. On the other side were groups that run or advocate for private schools around North Carolina, including the Catholic Church.

Doug and Nicole Turpin sued Charlotte Latin School in 2022, alleging that school leaders engaged in cancel culture against their beliefs and unfairly targeted their children in retaliation. They alleged that the school booted their kids over the parents’ fight with school administrators over Covid-era mask requirements and the school’s actions acknowledging the Black Lives Matter movement.

They lost after a Mecklenburg County judge found the family failed to make valid legal claims. The state Court of Appeals upheld that decision.

But the Supreme Court gave them new life, even as the majority opinion agreed in part with the other courts that their legal arguments were lacking.

“The 60 pages of allegations occasionally resemble a press release more than a legal filing,” Justice Richard Dietz wrote for the majority. “This likely complicated the lower courts’ review because many portions of the complaint assert claims or legal theories that are meritless as a matter of law and were properly dismissed.”

However, Dietz continued, some things the family claimed happened could be grounds for a valid lawsuit, if true, and if challenged properly. So the Supreme Court gave them a second chance, sending the case back to the Court of Appeals “so that the Turpins can proceed on this more limited set of properly pleaded claims.”

The family’s claims against Charlotte Latin could net the family a financial windfall if a jury sides with them.

There’s also reputation at stake. If each side is accusing the other of harming their reputation, Turpin attorney Chris Edwards told justices during oral arguments at the Supreme Court last year, “that’s something that the conscience of the community — the jury — needs to figure out.”

Charlotte Latin disagrees. Even if the school ends up winning at trial, its lawyer told justices during the 2025 oral arguments, the damage from simply allowing a trial to be held would still be immense. It would create “a potential tort minefield” not just for every private school in the state but for any business that might want to stop associating with customers who refuse to follow its rules, Jennifer Van Zant, a lawyer for the school, said at the time.

A ruling in favor of the Turpins would encourage more parents to sue their schools — and eventually water down the quality that parents expect when they pay to send their children to private schools, Van Zant said.

“If a private school cannot exercise its contractual right in the relationship without fear of tort liability, the private schools would turn into vanilla, one-size-fits-all experiences that avoid offending everyone and end up pleasing no one,” she said in oral arguments.

The Supreme Court’s Democratic justices agreed, in a dissent written by Justice Allison Riggs. She said the court risks opening every private school in the state to lawsuits, and also risks opening up defamation lawsuits against many individual people and groups, not just schools. She said the majority wrongfully lends credence to arguments that she said were wholly without merit, and which go against a long history of legal precedent.

“I fear this superficial treatment of the limitations on the use of state defamation law to constrain free speech will have significant chilling effects on important public discourse and will fling open the courthouse doors to disputes that should be settled in open, public conversations, not by judges,” Riggs wrote in dissent.

RALEIGH, N.C. (WECT) – The North Carolina Judicial Branch and the North Carolina Retail Merchants Association have launched a joint campaign to warn consumers about scammers impersonating court officials and law enforcement officers.

Scammers are contacting North Carolina residents and falsely claiming they owe court costs, bail, or jury-duty penalties. The fraudulent demands frequently threaten immediate arrest or financial penalties if the victim does not pay right away.

To protect the public, officials emphasize that the North Carolina Judicial Branch will never demand immediate payment through:

• Gift cards
• Cryptocurrency
• Wire transfers or peer-to-peer payment apps
• ATM cash deposits
• Money-transfer services

Court officials urge anyone who receives an urgent, court-related payment demand to hang up and independently verify the claim.

Residents can search cases, check outstanding balances, and make legitimate payments securely online through the state’s official records portal here, or by contacting their local clerk of superior court directly.

A manhunt is underway in Benson after a man fled the scene of a traffic crash Thursday afternoon.

Benson police said the North Carolina State Highway Patrol is searching for a Hispanic man wearing pink shorts and no shirt. The crash happened around 2 p.m. on I-95S and helicopters were used to search the area for several hours.

Around 3:45 p.m. Benson police said they were assisting the Highway Patrol with the help of deputies from the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office and a K9 team. 

Benson residents told WRAL that helicopters are back searching the area this evening.