North Carolina Lawyers Weekly
Lawyers sometimes get a bad rap for adversarial and combative conduct, but one layman representing himself in a federal suit engaged in such relentless and bizarre harassment of an attorney representing his opponent that a judge actually had to issue a temporary no-contact order.
Chance Addison, owner of a company that makes e-cigarettes, is being sued by Reynolds Innovations, which is represented by Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton in Winston-Salem. The court issued the no-contact after Addison showed up unannounced at KT&S’s office (for reasons that remain unclear), but that was just part of a pattern of continuing provocation.
According to a declaration by KT&S attorney William Bryner, here’s a small sampling of the voicemail messages Addison, clearly not imbued with Christmas cheer, left for Bryner in December:
“Can you whip up some paperwork for me so I can tear you a new one in court again, buddy?”
“So I don’t know if you heard the rumor yet, but it is true that I am writing a book and it does now feature your client’s humiliation and your complete defeat in court.”
“I did promise that I was going to whip the [expletive] out of your [expletive] client, humiliate you.”
“I stopped by your office and left my card for you and you might even have an idea of what it is that my victory looks like.”
“Too bad you didn’t [expletive] have the wisdom to call me and try to get this thing settled like a couple of sane human beings. So you got the crazy Chance instead.”
The crazy Chance indeed.
A hearing to consider a permanent no-contact order is set for Jan. 27. Presumably, they’ll have a great deal to talk about.
