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GATESVILLE – A judge has dismissed a civil lawsuit filed against two high-ranking Gates County local government officials.

On March 25, Superior Court Judge Cindy King Sturges granted a motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed last year by Gates County Board of Elections Director Clytia Riddick against Gates County Manager Scott Sauer and Gates County Human Resources Director Warren Perry.

“Upon careful consideration of the record proper, arguments of counsel, the entire court file, as well as a transcript of the hearing, the Court grants the defendants’ motion to dismiss as to all parties and as to all plaintiff’s claims for relief,” Judge Sturges wrote in her order.

The judge added that all the plaintiff’s claims are “dismissed with prejudice.” When a civil case is dismissed “with prejudice,” it means the case is permanently closed, and the plaintiff is barred from refiling the same claim in that court or any other court.

In mid-August of last year, an attorney representing Riddick filed a lawsuit against Sauer and Perry, acting individually within the scope of their jobs, 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. The lawsuit alleged that “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.”

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.

Meanwhile, Riddick’s lawsuit against Sauer and Perry continued, accusing them of tortious interference, which allows a plaintiff to claim damages against a defendant who intentionally interferes with a plaintiff’s business or contractual relationships.

Riddick also accused the two men of 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.”

Riddick’s final claim against Perry and Sauer individually was 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, denied all of the accusations and motions to dismiss each of the three claims were filed in late October of last year.

At the same hearing on Feb. 24, the court ordered a “stay of discovery” while taking the other motions under advisement.

“In October of last year, we denied all claims and that is now solidified with the order signed on March 25 by Judge Sturges,” Sauer said on Monday of this week.

Last week, this newspaper reported that Riddick has resigned from her position as Elections Director, a job she has held for the past 15 years.

Christopher Eason, chair of the Gates County Board of Elections, said the board, at their regularly scheduled meeting on March 18, voted to accept Riddick’s resignation.

Eason said Riddick’s letter of resignation stated she would remain as Gates County’s Board of Elections Director through Friday, April 11.

“She said she got a job with a Board of Elections [office] in another county,” said Eason, answering a question of why Riddick is leaving Gates County.

Eason added that the position is being advertised and that the board will select a new director from those applying for the job.

“However, the State Board of Elections still has to approve the person we choose to hire,” Eason stated.

When asked about a timetable to have a new director in place, Eason said he hopes the process plays out quickly.

In the meantime, Eason there will be someone staffing the Board of Elections office after April 11.

“We have to keep those doors open,” he said.