RALEIGH — A Chapel Hill-based lawyer who ran an unsuccessful campaign last fall to be a District Court judge in Orange and Chatham counties sued Thursday in Wake County Superior Court, listing two District Court judges as defendants.
Betsy Wolfenden, a lawyer since 2000, accuses Joe Buckner and Lunsford Long, District Court judges in Orange and Chatham, with taking part in a conspiracy to ruin her professional reputation and inflict emotional distress. The lawsuit also lists the N.C. State Bar and lawyers Donna Amber Davis and Leigh A. Peek as defendants.
Wolfenden is scheduled to go before a State Bar disciplinary hearing panel in January. The bar filed a 13-page complaint this year alleging that Wolfenden has been combative, disruptive and erratic in court during the past two years, displaying paranoid behavior that includes frivolous claims and personal attacks on opposing counsel. It alleges she suffers from a mental condition that impairs her judgment and ability to practice law in a professional manner. Story continues here ➤
