Civil Practice – Personal Jurisdiction – Sufficient Contacts with the Forum State

Defendant had sufficient contacts with the state to establish personal jurisdiction that the executor of the decedent’s estate adequately pleaded a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress arising from Defendant’s alleged threats and coercive actions that led to the decedent’s suicide.

We denied Defendant’s motion to dismiss in its entirety.

Plaintiffs Kelly F. Moore (individually and as executor of the estate of Drue A. Moore), Miles Moore (individually and on behalf of his minor brother, Cole Moore), KMC Moore LLC, and Rick Graves sued Robert Scott Brooks and Winthrop Intelligence, LLC. Plaintiffs alleged that Brooks, a resident of Arizona and former Chief Investment and Financial Officer (CIFO) of Winthrop, engaged in conduct that led to Drue Moore’s suicide on January 10, 2025. The amended complaint asserted claims for declaratory judgment, intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED), conversion, unjust enrichment, breach of fiduciary duty, constructive fraud, constructive trust, and negligence. Brooks filed a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(2) for lack of personal jurisdiction and Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim, specifically targeting the IIED and conversion claims.

We accepted the complaint’s factual allegations as true for purposes of the motion, as Brooks did not introduce competent evidence to contradict them. The complaint details Drue Moore’s business activities in North Carolina, including co-founding Winthrop Intelligence, LLC, an out-of-state entity that regularly conducted business and maintained a principal office in Durham County. Brooks oversaw Winthrop’s North Carolina operations and interacted extensively with Drue Moore, including demanding transfers of assets located in North Carolina and negotiating agreements that affected Drue and his family. Brooks allegedly pressured Drue to assign or liquidate assets, including brokerage accounts, a promissory note, a foreign investment property, and personal property, exceeding any debt allegedly owed to Brooks or Winthrop. Brooks also threatened criminal prosecution and public exposure to compel compliance, despite no intention of following through on these threats.

A defendant must have sufficient contacts with the forum state such that haling them into court is reasonable under the Due Process Clause. We found that Brooks’s conduct, directing communications, threats, and asset transfers toward a North Carolina resident, targeting property and assets in North Carolina, and acting on behalf of a company doing business in the state, established specific jurisdiction. Brooks’s unilateral reliance on Drue Moore’s location was insufficient to avoid jurisdiction because his actions intentionally targeted North Carolina. Accordingly, we denied the Rule 12(b)(2) motion.

Regarding the Rule 12(b)(6) motion, we found that the IIED claim was adequately pleaded on behalf of Kelly Moore as executor of Drue’s estate. Allegations that Brooks threatened Drue with criminal charges and financial ruin, demanded excessive asset transfers, and acted recklessly or intentionally in causing emotional distress were sufficient to survive dismissal. Whether Brooks’s conduct was “extreme and outrageous” is fact-dependent and for a jury to decide. The conversion claim was voluntarily dismissed by Plaintiffs, rendering that portion of Brooks’s motion moot.

We therefore denied Brooks’s motion to dismiss in its entirety, preserving the IIED claim and allowing the case to proceed.

Denied.

Moore v. Brooks (Lawyers Weekly No. 020-006-26, 24 pp.) (Matthew T. Houston, J.) 2026 NCBC 6. Ward and Smith, P.A., by E. Bradley Evans, Gavin B. Parsons, and Jordan Spanner, for Plaintiffs Kelly F. Moore, individually and as executor of the estate of Drue A. Moore; Miles Moore, individually and on behalf of his minor brother, Cole Moore; KMC Moore LLC, as trustee of the Redwood Trust, u/a/d April 10, 2017; Rick Graves, as trustee of the Redwood Life Insurance Trust u/a/d November 15, 2018; and Crossclaim Defendant Redwood WI Holdings, LLC. Everett Gaskins Hancock Tuttle Hash LLP, by E.D. Gaskins and James M. Hash, for Defendants Robert Scott Brooks and Winthrop Intelligence, LLC. North Carolina Business Court