A federal judge has rejected former Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s effort to dismiss a North Carolina lawsuit accusing her of interfering in the marriage of a member of her security detail, allowing the case to move forward.
The ruling, issued Friday by U.S. District Judge David A. Bragdon in the Middle District of North Carolina, does not decide whether Sinema is liable. In his Sept. 4 order, Bragdon said the narrower question was whether the federal court in North Carolina had legal authority to hear the case against Sinema, an Arizona resident.
Bragdon said his factual and credibility findings were limited to that jurisdictional issue. Even so, the order rejected parts of Sinema’s account and credited evidence that she knowingly sent relationship-related messages to Matthew Ammel in North Carolina.
Heather Ammel, his ex-wife, sued Sinema under a North Carolina civil claim known as alienation of affection. The claim allows a spouse to seek damages from a third party accused of wrongfully causing the loss of marital affection. Under the state precedent Bragdon applied, malice is conclusively presumed if the defendant had sexual intercourse with the plaintiff’s spouse.
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