deluca v. cooper materials

NORTH CAROLINA

WAKE COUNTY

FRANCIS X DELUCA, Plaintiff

V.

ROY COOPER, in his capacity as ATTORNEY GENERAL OF NORTH CAROLINA

Defendant.

) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION

COMPLAINT

Plaintiff, complaining of the Defendant, allege and say:

1. Francis X Deluca is a citizen and resident of Wake County, North Carolina.

He had paid and pays state and local taxes, including income tax and sales tax, each of

which is used to support the public schools of North Carolina.

2. Plaintiff Francis X Deluca has standing as a taxpayer to prevent a diversion of

funds which are committed by the Constitution to the public schools of North Carolina.

Goldston v. State, 361 NC 26, 637 S.E.2d 876 (2006).

3. By Agreement dated July 25, 2000, Michael Easley, then the Attorney General

of North Carolina, entered into an agreement with Smithfield Foods Inc. and its

subsidiaries, Brown's of Carolina, Inc., Carroll's Foods Inc., Murphy Farms Inc., Carroll's

Foods of Virginia, Inc. and Quarter M Farms Inc. An unsigned copy of the Agreement is

attached hereto as exhibit A.

4. Pursuant to that agreement, Smithfield Foods, Inc. and its subsidiaries agreed

to pay North Carolina and deliver to the Attorney General of North Carolina up to $2

million per year based upon the number of hogs they produced. On information and

belief, in the years embraced within the prayer for relief that payment in 2014 was $1.9

million; in 2015 the amount was $1.8 million; in 2016 the amount was $2.0 million.

5. Pursuant to the Agreement the Attorney General has distributed these sums to

grant recipients for Supplemental Environmental Programs (SEP). These funds have

been so distributed since inception of the Agreement and as recently as August 2016.

6. In North Carolina School Board Association et al vs. Moore 359 NC474, 614

DRAFT

deluca v. cooper materials

Documents