Free speech or personal attack? Local leaders face lawsuit after removing man from meeting

A Wilmington man is suing local leaders after he was removed from an October meeting of the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners while speaking during the meeting’s public comment period.

Neal Shulman claims Julia Olson-Boseman, then-chair of the board of commissioners, violated his right to free speech when she stopped him during public comment and ordered a bailiff with the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office to remove him from the meeting. But a filing made last month, refutes Shulman’s claims, saying Olson-Boseman was within her rights to stop what the filing calls a “personal attack.”

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The exchange at the center of the lawsuit lasted less than 45 seconds and happened toward the end of the board’s regular meeting on Oct. 3, 2022. Here is the exchange, as recorded in the lawsuit:

“[Shulman]: Who in here would enter into a business agreement with Julia Boseman and give her $50,000?

Olson-Boseman (gaveling Shulman): And here you’re done. Goodbye.

[Shulman]: I’m not done yet.

Olson-Boseman: No, you’re excused.

[Shulman]: But yet you have the same thing with Novant.

Olson Boseman: Remove him, remove him. This is not … you do not attack me personally. Bailiff, remove him. Time’s up.”

Shulman was escorted out of the meeting room without incident. Two weeks later, on Oct. 17, Wilmington-based attorney Richard Theokas filed a complaint on behalf of Shulman in New Hanover County Superior Court. The lawsuit was later moved to U.S. District Court.

The filing alleges Olson-Boseman violated Shulman’s rights under federal and North Carolina law. It also states her conduct violated the board’s rules of procedure and code of ethics.

In addition to Olson-Boseman, the filing names all other board of commissioners members, except board member Jonathan Barfield who was absent from the Oct. 3 meeting, along with New Hanover County Manager Chris Coudriet and county attorney Wanda Copley.

Because Coudriet, Copley and the other board members did not object to Olson-Boseman’s removal of Shulman, “they are all complicit … in his being denied a Constitutionally protected right to express his comments,” the filing argues.

The suit argues Olson-Boseman’s action also violates the rules and code of ethics adopted by the board of commissioners. The rules allow the board’s chair to rule a motion “out of order” for “obstructive or dilatory purposes” or when a speaker has gone beyond “reasonable standards of courtesy” in their remarks. But the board cannot “restrict the subject matter of any speaker,” according to the filing.

"Public administrators, such as the members of the Board of Commissioners, can only constrain speech when it is disruptive, tends to encourage violence and disorder, none of which were present in Mr. Shulman's speech," Theokas, Shulman's attorney, stated in an email to the StarNews.

Shulman's suit follows the format of any legal action, which starts when one person has been injured by another, according to Theokas.

"In Mr. Shulman's case, he believes he was denied his First Amendment rights of free speech when the Chairwoman of the Board of Commissioners stopped him from speaking a mere ten seconds into his presentation," he wrote in an email. "That was the injury, and the remedy for it is in equity, that is, money."

The initial filing does not list the amount of money Shulman is seeking in the suit.

On Dec. 29, Frederick Bailey, the New Bern-based lawyer representing the defendants, responded to Shulman’s claims. In a filing, he argued Olson-Boseman was within her right as chair to stop him and did not violate his right to free speech. A motion to dismiss the lawsuit was also filed.

The response argues the board’s public comment period is considered a “limited public forum,” which means leaders aren’t required to allow every type of speech, although they can’t discriminate on viewpoint.

“Under the limited public forum standard, “officials presiding over [board] meetings” have the authority “to cut off speech which they reasonably perceive to be, or imminently to threaten, a disruption of the orderly and fair progress of the discussion,” the filing states, and that includes personal attacks.

Even if Olson-Boseman did violate Shulman’s constitutional rights, that doesn’t mean the rest of the board’s members are “vicariously liable,” the response states.

The filing also argued that New Hanover County is entitled to governmental immunity, which protects municipalities if they're sued in their official capacity. It notes public officials also have some immunity and states that Shulman provided no allegations to suggest members of the board “acted outside of the scope of their official duties, or with malicious or corrupt intent.”

Bailey, the lawyer representing the defendants, declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing the pending litigation. Theokas, Shulman’s lawyer, will have until Feb. 23 to respond to the motion to dismiss the lawsuit, according to online court records.

Reporter Emma Dill can be reached at edill@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Wilmington man files free speech lawsuit against New Hanover leaders