Cuckoo Carrboro
Image from the film “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”
“I must be crazy to be in a loony bin like this”
North Carolina has more than 500 municipalities. It doesn’t seem like a good idea for all of them to turn into trial lawyer’s offices looking for massive payouts from North Carolina businesses.
But that’s the precedent Cuckoo Carrboro looks to set with its loony lawsuit against Duke Energy, seeking $60 million over “climate deception.”
Cuckoo Carrboro, population 21,000, has a median income of $77,000, which is $10,000 higher than the state average. It sits about 150 miles from the ocean.
"As a result of the deceptions by Duke fossil fuel companies, and others in the industry, we didn't make that transition to renewable energy when we reasonably should have, and when we could have. And as a result, there's a major gulf between where we should be at and where we're at right now," attorney Matthew Quinn told ABC 11.
Cuckoo Carrboro can embrace whatever woke ESG goals it likes within its own borders. But trying to impose that agenda on the entire state, or on the state’s businesses, is not okay.
When (not if) Cuckoo Carrboro loses its lawsuit, it won’t just be the town’s well-off residents that foot the bill for Duke Energy’s lawyer fees. It’ll be every North Carolina ratepayer.
Perhaps the General Assembly should act to rein in towns that try to use the legal system to bilk millions from companies. One option might be docking Carrboro’s sales tax receipts to pay for what will essentially be a very expensive press conference.
And honestly, it seems increasingly apparent this whole exercise may be intended to be one big media and fundraising spectacle.
Here’s what left-wing activist group NC WARN wrote in an email blast just yesterday: “We have already drawn tons of national, state and local news coverage, led by two days of coverage in the New York Times. So far, Duke Energy seems handcuffed in responding to the media.”
If this becomes standard practice, every town hall in the state could be converted into a functional trial lawyer’s office. That’s not good for business.
