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GATESVILLE – One part of a civil lawsuit filed against Gates County has been dismissed, but three other claims continue, with stipulations, against two high-ranking county officials.

In mid-August of last year, an attorney representing Gates County Elections Director Clytia Riddick filed a lawsuit against Gates County Manager Scott Sauer and Warren Perry, the county’s Human Resources Director, as well as Gates County local government. The lawsuit sought in excess of $300,000 in compensatory and punitive damages.

In her claim against Gates County, Riddick alleged the county was provided with the necessary documentation from the County Board of Elections that required the county pay the plaintiff the full amount of her salary. However, as the suit alleges, “Gates County converted a portion of the funds by depriving the plaintiff of the money and converting the money to Gates County’s own use.”

In late October of last year, the county, through its attorney, filed a motion to dismiss those allegations. A hearing was scheduled for Feb. 24 in Currituck County Superior Court. There, according to Mary Craven Adams of Womble Bond Dickinson (the county’s law firm), Riddick filed a voluntary dismissal of her claim against the county prior to the start of the hearing.

However, three claims by Riddick remain against Sauer and Perry, acting individually within the scope of their jobs.

The first of those three claims is for tortious interference, which allows a plaintiff to claim damages against a defendant who intentionally interferes with a plaintiff’s business or contractual relationships.

The second claim is for illegal surveillance, alleging that Perry and Sauer acted in violation of North Carolina General Statute (NCGS) 15A 287 “by secretly listening to and/or recording the plaintiff’s conversations on a daily basis [through video security cameras that the defendant had installed in the Board of Elections office] and have attempted to use oral communication that they heard while illegally listening to the plaintiff’s conversations to harm the plaintiff in their effort to cause plaintiffs removal from her position as Director of the Gates County Board of Elections.”

The final claim against Perry and Sauer individually is for interference with civil rights. The claim alleges “that the defendants, motivated by the race of the plaintiff, have conspired to interfere with the exercise or enjoyment by the plaintiff of rights secured by the Constitutions of North Carolina, as contained in Article I, Section 1 of the North Carolina Constitution and Article I, Section 19 of the North Carolina Constitution.”

Sauer and Perry, through their attorney, deny all accusations.

Womble Bond Dickinson filed earlier motions to dismiss each of those three claims. Adams said there was a hearing on Feb. 24 regarding that issue as well as a motion, filed by the two defendants, to stay discovery.

A stay of discovery is a court order that prevents attorneys from both sides from exchanging discovery until a pending motion is decided.

Discovery refers to the pre-trial process where both parties involved in a lawsuit exchange information about the case, including potential witnesses and evidence, with the goal of gathering facts and preparing for trial; essentially, it’s the formal process of each side learning about the other’s case details to build their own strategy.

“There was a hearing on Feb. 24, 2025 on defendants’ motion to stay discovery, as well as defendants’ motion to dismiss additional claims against the individual defendants,” Adams told the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald. “At the hearing, the court granted the motion to stay discovery and has taken the other motions under advisement. Accordingly, it is unknown at this time as to what claims, if any, shall proceed to the discovery stage.”