A motion for sanctions that accused a Rocky Mount attorney of manipulating court records and making false statements in legal filings has been resolved in a settlement sealed from public view.
Holland Perdue had faced the possibility of sanctions, which usually take the form of a monetary penalty imposed by a judge for improper conduct by an attorney, in a disputed estate case.
Perdue is the mayor of Rocky Mount, although the request for sanctions did not involve his duties as an elected official.
Perdue
Judge William Broadhurst dismissed the motion, made by the opposing attorney in the civil matter in Franklin County Circuit Court, in an order dated July 7.
The issue 鈥渉as been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the parties,鈥 Broadhurst wrote in a brief order that allowed a four-page settlement agreement to be filed under seal.
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Last year, Perdue filed a lawsuit on behalf of a woman who was trying to recover part of the estate left by her late husband, a developer who owned numerous Smith Mountain Lake properties.
Lindsey Coley, the attorney for the man鈥檚 four daughters from a previous marriage 鈥 who are listed as heirs in his will 鈥 asked that the lawsuit against them be dismissed because Perdue had missed a filing deadline of Aug. 21, 2024.
In a response to that request, Perdue wrote that he filed the complaint on Aug. 20, one day before the statute of limitations expired. His filing included a screenshot of online court records showing the Aug. 20 filing date.
Perdue later admitted in court records that the document was actually filed on Sept. 23, more than a month late. The online record has been corrected.
Coley filed her motion for sanctions in January, asserting that her opponent made false statements in official court documents and that he colluded with someone in the Circuit Court Clerk鈥檚 Office to create a false record by backdating the filing of his lawsuit.
When Perdue 鈥渟igned such response and filed it with this Court, he knew it contained false statements and attached a false exhibit (which was created by manipulating a court record),鈥 the motion states.
Because Coley alluded to misconduct in the clerk鈥檚 office, Broadhurst 鈥 who is retired and did not preside in Franklin County 鈥 was appointed to hear the case after the local judge stepped aside.
Both Perdue and his attorney, John Lichtenstein of 色多多, declined to comment Thursday. A call to Coley鈥檚 office was not returned.
In his order, Broadhurst wrote that Perdue had filed a motion for recusal and asked that it be heard in camera, meaning it was privately discussed in judicial chambers. The grounds for the request, or who was asked to recuse themselves, are not detailed in the order.
A line in Broadhurst鈥檚 order that follows his reference to the motion for recusal is redacted in black ink, with the judge鈥檚 initials next to it.
Broadhurst then wrote that he had considered the request 鈥 and his obligation under the Rules of Judicial Conduct 鈥 and found there was no basis for a recusal.
At the end of the three-page order, where attorneys for both sides attach their signatures, there is a notation that Perdue objected to Broadhurst鈥檚 denial 鈥渙n the grounds and for the reasons stated in the motion for recusal filed in camera.鈥
The order also states that the judge 鈥渄efers consideration of any additional聽 sanctions. Absent any intervening order, this matter shall be struck from the active docket of this Court effective Dec. 1, 2025.鈥
After the motion for sanctions was filed in January, Perdue did not make a formal response in court documents.
In a statement to The 色多多 in April, Lichtenstein wrote that Perdue 鈥渓ooks forward to bringing this matter to the Court and demonstrating there was never an attempt to mislead the Court or anyone else.鈥
