A sealed document has resolved a legal dispute that found Rocky Mount’s mayor facing sanctions based on his work as a private attorney.
A substitute circuit judge filed an order earlier this month dismissing the case against Holland Perdue for alleged actions in the case of a contested will. Opposing counsel in that case claimed in court documents that Perdue had filed and signed off on manipulated information in Franklin County Circuit Court after missing a legal deadline.
Judge William Broadhurst — a retired jurist called to hear the case after Franklin County Circuit Judge Timothy Allen recused himself — signed an order agreed on by all parties in the case. The order, filed July 7, states that a settlement agreement was filed under seal.
Perdue, reached by phone Thursday, declined to comment on the case, as did his Roanoke-based attorney, John Lichtenstein. But in a Facebook post dated June 27, Perdue referenced the settlement while rescinding a previous post alleging that the motion for sanctions had been “politically motivated.”
“After further consideration, I do not believe that Motion for Sanctions to have been politically motivated, but rather based on factual statements included in a pleading I filed, which were incorrect,” he wrote. “The Motion has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the parties.
“Both sides remained focused on working together to resolve it in a fair and respectful manner. The other party noted they had incurred expenses during this time, and I appreciated the opportunity to work cooperatively toward a resolution.”
Attorney Lindsey Coley, the party in question, did not return a message left at her office on Thursday. Coley, who represents the estate of Selby Gregorie “Greg” Venning III, had asked the court to award the estate attorney’s fees “incurred as a direct result of the false misrepresentations and inaccurate statements” in Perdue’s pleadings on behalf of his former client, Valerie Venning.
The motion for sanctions sprang from a case that Venning’s widow filed, attempting to nullify a prenuptial agreement that precluded her inclusion in his will. Court documents show that Perdue, who represented the widow at the time, was late in filing a document in the case, and Coley alleged that Perdue filed a document in September 2024 with a false date that would have fallen within the deadline.
Later documents that Perdue filed concede that the follow-up claim was submitted too late.
Allen, the Franklin County judge, recused himself due to the possibility that Circuit Court Clerk Teresa Brown might testify in a sanctions hearing against Perdue. Broadhurst ultimately dismissed the claim from Venning’s widow, Valerie Venning, because it was filed past the deadline.
Though Broadhurst signed the final order on July 7, the case file was not updated until last week.
Correction 10:30 a.m. July 21: Franklin County Circuit Judge Timothy Allen’s first name was incorrect in an earlier version of this story. The time period that the case file was updated was incorrect.
