Former N.C. Supreme Court Justice Robert Orr has filed, on behalf of seven plaintiffs from across the state, a lawsuit challenging state and local incentives given to Dell Inc. to convince the company to invest $100 million in a 1,500-employee computer manufacturing plant in southeast Winston-Salem.
Orr, now executive director of the Raleigh-based N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law, filed the challenge in Wake County Superior Court.
Former Charlotte City Council member Don Reid is among the plaintiffs. Others are residents of the Triad, Chocowinity, Apex and Cary. The plaintiffs’ occupations and circumstances weren’t disclosed.
“It is our belief that a judicial resolution must be reached to determine the constitutionality of the state’s policy of using tax revenue to grant various types of subsidies to selected large corporations to either move to North Carolina or to keep them from relocating,” Orr said.
The state has promised to grant Dell more than $242 million in incentives, while local incentives from Forsyth County and the city of Winston-Salem total more than $37 million.
