STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE

COUNTY OF WAKE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION

JOHN MCCORMICK KANE, Case No. _______________

Plaintiff,
COMPLAINT
v.
Jury Trial Demanded
JAMES DENNIS WHITE, JR.,

Defendant.

INTRODUCTION

1. “My fellow Americans, we’re facing a defining moment, an inflection point,”

President Joe Biden proclaimed days before the 2022 election. Remarks by President Biden on

Standing up for Democracy, Nov. 3, 2022, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-

remarks/2022/11/03/remarks-by-president-biden-on-standing-up-for-democracy/. “And we

must—with one overwhelming, unified voice—speak as a country and say there is no place—no

place—for voter intimidation or political violence in America, whether it’s directed at Democrats

or Republicans. No place, period. No place ever.” Id.

2. Plaintiff John McCormick Kane, a Raleigh native who played football at North

Carolina State University, is a husband, father of three young children, and successful

entrepreneur, business executive, and investor. John is also an outspoken supporter of President

Donald J. Trump and his Make America Great Again agenda. Like tens of millions of other

Americans, John expressed his support for his preferred presidential candidate in the months

leading up to the 2020 election. After the 2020 election, John maintained a sign in his front yard

in support of President Trump. Vandals spray painted the sign on three separate occasions, and

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John changed the sign after each instance out of necessity. Several months ago, after vandals

spray painted the sign for a third time, John put up a sign bearing two words: TRUMP WON.

Regardless of what one thinks of the message, John’s view is shared by millions of his fellow

Americans who have serious concerns about the 2020 election—concerns that are hardly

unprecedented in American history.

3. On the morning of August 12, 2023, Defendant James Dennis White Jr. pedaled

his bicycle past the Kane family’s home. And then White noticed John’s sign. The message

triggered White, so he pulled his bicycle onto John’s front lawn. With his bicycle stopped, White

shifted his body weight onto his left leg and delivered five kicks to John’s political message.

Unable to knock the sign down, White rode off.

4. White was not done though. In the early morning hours of August 15, White left

his Raleigh home for a pre-dawn bicycle ride. As he prepared for his ride, White packed an

unusual accessory for an endurance athlete: a multi-purpose lighter. White did bring the lighter

to enjoy an early morning smoke. Having failed to kick over John’s sign during his earlier

encounter with the inanimate object, White had resolved to set the sign on fire instead.

5. White had every opportunity to abort his plan, but as he cruised through Raleigh

in the cool of the morning, White chose to ride his bicycle past John’s house again. With John,

his wife, and his young children sleeping inside, White parked his bicycle and approached the

sign. With the lighter in his right hand, White pushed John’s American flag out of the way,

looking toward John’s front door to make sure the coast was clear. Then, crouching down, White

pulled the lighter’s trigger and pressed the fiery device against the left-hand corner of John’s

sign, applying the flame for nearly ten seconds until the sign caught fire. White promptly fled the

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scene, escaping into the darkness, not bothering to wait to see if the wooded area mere steps

away would also catch fire, something which would have put John’s home and others at risk.

6. John woke up the next morning to see his sign reduced to ashes. Both he and his

young family were shaken and shocked that something like this could happen in Raleigh, a

community known for its Southern hospitality. Drawing inspiration from one of his personal

heroes, Russian writer and Soviet-era dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, John refused to bow to

this act of political violence, so he replaced the sign. Certainly, the activist who set fire to John’s

property would not dare do the same thing twice, right?

7. Think again because White planned to strike once more. Three days after his first

fiery triumph, White rode past John’s home again long before sunrise on the morning of August

18. As White packed his riding ensemble, he again grabbed his lighter. And then history repeated

itself. With John and his family asleep inside, White again rode past John’s home. White

stopped, parked his bicycle, walked toward John’s home and sign, brandishing his lighter in his

right hand. Kneeling on his right knee, White squeezed the lighter’s trigger twice while once

again holding the lighter at the left-hand corner of the sign. After the sign caught fire, White ran

away. Just like last time, White did not stop to make sure the fire did not spread or harm others.

White later described the ride in humorous terms on his Strava social media account. “Wade Ave

A Go Go!!!” he exclaimed.

8. White obviously disagrees with John’s political views. White has every right to

criticize the message on John’s sign, and John has every right to convey his message. Our

democracy demands nothing less. Here though, under the cover of darkness, White not only

assailed our norms and standards, the cyclist burned private property, invaded John and his

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family’s privacy, and otherwise exhibited complete disregard for the property, safety, and

security of others.

9. “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” reads the official slogan of The Washington Post.

Fundamentally, this case says not here, not in the capitol city of the Old North State. White’s

anti-democratic deeds, which were done in secret, are now in the light. President Biden is right—

White’s pyro-fueled intolerance has no place in America. And now John is going to hold White’s

feet to the proverbial fire.

PARTIES, JURISDICTION, AND VENUE

10. Plaintiff John McCormick Kane is a resident of Wake County.

11. Defendant James Dennis White Jr. is a resident of Wake County.

12. This Court has subject matter jurisdiction over this case under N.C. Gen. Stat.

§ 7A-243 because the value of the relief sought exceeds $25,000.

13. Venue is proper in this Court under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-82 because the parties are

all residents of Wake County.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

I. John Kane’s political activism leads him to place a pro-Trump political sign in the
front yard of his family’s home.

14. John Kane is foremost a husband and father of three young children. A native of

Raleigh, John is a graduate of North Carolina State University, where he was a starter and

letterman on the Wolfpack football team. After graduating, John could have worked anywhere,

but he chose to build a life and raise a family in Raleigh. John embarked on a business career,

earning success as an entrepreneur, executive, and investor.

15. Throughout his life, John has been drawn to public service, maintaining an active

interest in politics and public affairs. In 2013, he was appointed to serve a six-year term on the

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Board of Directors of the North Carolina State Ports Authority. In 2016, John was an outspoken

supporter of the presidential candidacy of Donald J. Trump, and he vocally supported President

Trump’s reelection bid in 2020.

16. John questioned the results of the 2020 election. He is not alone in this regard.

NBC News recently reported results of a poll that “[t]hree-in-10 Americans still believe

President Joe Biden won his 2020 election only due to voter fraud.” Ben Kamisar, Almost a third

of Americans still believe the 2020 election result was fraudulent, NBC News, June 20, 2023,

https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meetthepressblog/almost-third-americans-still-

believe-2020-election-result-was-fraudule-rcna90145. Nor are John’s views without precedent in

American history. See, e.g., Christopher Hitchens, Ohio’s Odd Numbers, Vanity Fair, Mar.

2005, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2005/03/hitchens200503 (“No conspiracy theorist, and

no fan of John Kerry’s, the author nevertheless found the Ohio polling results impossible to

swallow: Given what happened in that key state on Election Day 2004, both democracy and

common sense cry out for a court-ordered inspection of its new voting machines.”).

17. One of John’s personal heroes is Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the famed Soviet

dissent, and Nobel Prize winner, who wrote about his struggle against communism and

totalitarianism in The Gulag Archipelago. In that book, Solzhenitsyn writes about what happens

when people keep quiet when they should otherwise speak out. “In keeping silent about evil, in

burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it

will rise up a thousand fold in the future,” Solzhenitsyn wrote. “When we neither punish nor

reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the

foundations of justice from beneath new generations.”

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 18. John believes that for him to remain silent regarding his concerns about the 2020

election would be tantamount to “ripping the foundations of justice” out from under all

Americans, including his children. With respect to the 2020 election, the phrase TRUMP WON

stands as a kind of shorthand for election concerns, including the active suppression of news

regarding the Hunter Biden laptop story in the days leading up to the 2020 election by Big Tech,

something prominent former executives at one social media company have since acknowledged

was a mistake. Laura Romero, Former Twitter execs tell House committee that removal of

Hunter Biden laptop story was a ‘mistake’, ABC News, Feb. 8, 2023,

https://abcnews.go.com/US/former-twitter-execs-house-committee-removal-hunter-

biden/story?id=96979014.

19. John raised his voice. As shown below, John erected a TRUMP WON sign on his

front lawn, set just under an American flag. For John, the sign is a meaningful presentation of his

views in the tradition of Solzhenitsyn.

Not content to just talk, John also acted. Earlier this year, John paused his business pursuits to

run an insurgent campaign to become the Chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party.

During that process, John repeatedly referred to this sign on the front lawn of the home where he

and his wife are raising their three young children.

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II. Under the cover of darkness, while John and his young family slept in their home,
James Dennis White Jr. repeatedly torches John’s political sign.

20. Defendant James Dennis White Jr. lives in Raleigh. White knows well the power

of symbols on front lawns. In 2019, WRAL reported on White’s effort to create “public art” in

after Hurricane Michael downed a large oak tree in his front yard. WRAL reported that the

carving White commissioned is “meaningful” to White and his wife. Richard Adkins, Chainsaw

turns Hurricane Michael debris into work of art in Raleigh neighborhood, WRAL, Jan. 30,

2019, https://www.wral.com/amp/18158502/.

21. White is an avid cyclist. He maintains a profile on the social media website

Strava, which allows users to track their exercise routines, including cycling. White’s profile on

the site is under the name “Jim White.” On the profile, White tracks his various journeys

throughout the Raleigh area, which originate from his home in Five Points.

22. The morning of August 12, White went for a bicycle ride. As shown below, on

Strava, White captioned the journey as “Raleigh ain’t flat and Umstead is not a fast track!” He

rode more than 49 miles that morning.

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 23. White rode past John’s house that morning. Three separate cameras on John’s

property captured White’s approach to John’s residence. As shown below, zoomed in for a better

view, John’s doorbell camera captured White traveling left to right across the picture.

24. The second camera focused on John’s driveway shows his TRUMP WON sign.

As White approached the sign, he slowed down, and veered off the street and onto John’s lawn.

That camera captured White kicking John’s sign, in an apparent attempt to knock it down. One

frame from the video showing White’s effort is shown below. The blue bucket pictured on

John’s porch is a beach toy for one of his young children. White’s kicks were loud enough that

the driveway camera captured audio of his failed assault on the sign.

25. A third camera positioned closer to John’s sign captured White’s assault in more

detail. After stopping his bicycle on John’s lawn, White shifted his weight to his left leg, and

kicked the TRUMP WON sign five separate times.

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Failing to topple the sign, White rode off as shown below.

26. White was not about to let John’s sign remain standing. In the early morning

hours of August 15, White got ready for another jaunt through our State’s capitol city. White

donned his fluorescent spandex gear, helmet, and specialty shoes. But the cyclist added

something new to the ensemble that morning: a multi-purpose lighter. White did not bring the

lighter to smoke a cigarette. To the contrary, White planned to light up John’s sign.

27. White had every opportunity to abort his fiery, intolerant mission. John’s house is

more than two miles away from White’s. It took White several minutes to pedal over to John’s

house. A little after 4 AM in the morning on August 15, long before sunrise and with John and

his young family asleep in their home, White again approached John’s residence.

28. With the house on his right, White pushed ahead past John’s house before parking

his bike slightly past John’s sign. White got off his bicycle and approached the sign. John’s

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camera captured White walking toward the sign, brandishing the lighter he packed for his pre-

dawn ride in his right hand.

29. White knew well what he was about to do was wrong, and he did not want to be

caught. So, as shown below, White thrust John’s American flag out of the way, looking past the

flag at John’s front door, to make sure the coast was clear.

30. Believing no one was watching, White pulled the trigger on the lighter, crouched

down, and placed the flame at the bottom left-hand corner of the sign. Here again, White could

have stepped away, but he kept the flame in place for nearly ten seconds, until he ignited the

sign. Below is a frame showing the moment White completed his goal of setting John’s property

on fire. Also visible in the image below is a distinctive tattoo on White’s inner right forearm.

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 31. As shown below, White quickly scampered away from the scene of his fire. White

did not wait to see if the fire he set would spread to consume Old Glory, John’s home,

neighboring homes, or the thick stand of trees just step away from the blaze.

32. Below is a photograph showing a true and accurate of the stand of trees near

John’s house and the American flag pictured above.

33. When John woke up the next morning, he saw his TRUMP WON sign in ashes.

The charred remains shook John and his young family, but this former wrestler and college

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football fullback was not about to give into this kind of blatant, targeted, hate-filled political

intimidation. So John leaned in, and put the sign back up.

34. John also took steps to protect his young family by reporting the incident to the

Raleigh Police Department. John did not think the vandal would return, but he did not want to

leave anything to chance, so he redoubled his security efforts.

35. Three days later, on August 18, White brought fire back to John’s property.

Again, under the cover of darkness, White went to John’s sign, and took a knee next to it. White

again brandished lighter in his right hand. When the lighter did not ignite the first time he pulled

the trigger, White squeezed a second time, and the device produced a flame. This time, White did

not need to linger at the sign as long, as John’s sign caught fire more quickly. A frame from the

video showing the moment John’s second sign went up in flames is shown below. The image

also captures White’s distinctive tattoo.

36. Again, White hurried away from the scene of the fire he started on John’s

property. Just like he did three days earlier, White did not stop to see if the fire consumed the

symbol of our democracy, John’s house, neighboring properties, or nearby trees. John woke up

to another charred sign, further shaking his young family.

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 37. Later on, over on Strava, White labeled this ride under the heading “Wade Ave A

Go Go!!!” Ultimately, Strava, the social media network White used to detail his cycling efforts,

turned out to be his undoing.

38. Strava allows users to track their times and progress as they run or bike across

various paths and terrain. During his initial kick-infused jaunt and two subsequent fiery rides,

White had his Strava app on, which tracked his every more. As shown below, White’s Strava

records show his speed drop to zero near John’s house.

a. On August 12, White’s bike stopped at John’s residence.

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 b. White’s August 15 Strava ride shows the same stop.

c. White stopped at John’s residence again on August 18, as White’s Strava

record below shows.

39. On August 20, 2023, White went for a bike ride with a Strava user named Matt

Coats. Their ride started and ended at White’s residence, and like White’s rides on August 12,

15, and 18, respectively, White pedaled past John’s home. Mr. Coats posted a picture of himself

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and White to Strava, showing the distinctive tattoo on White’s inner right forearm. The portion

of Mr. Coats’ photograph depicting White is shown below.

40. This was no high school prank. Upon information and belief, White is sixty years

old. White’s political views obviously differ from John’s. In a democracy, the appropriate

response is to air and debate those differences in an atmosphere of mutual respect. White could

have respectfully engaged with John in any number of ways. Unfortunately, in a pre-meditated

fashion, White chose to literally start a fire on John’s property and destroy his political

adversary’s property—not once, but twice. President Biden was right when he said in November

2022 that there is no place for this kind of conduct in America. The same holds true in Raleigh.

41. White’s actions damaged John and his young family. White did not just burn a

sign—he destroyed a symbol. He burned John’s property and simply rode off, content to allow

the sign and anything else near it to burn. White’s actions have caused fear and distress for

John’s young family. To say the least, this is not how citizens conduct themselves in a

democracy. John brings this lawsuit to hold White accountable.

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 CLAIMS FOR RELIEF

COUNT I
TRESPASS TO LAND

42. John realleges the foregoing paragraphs.

43. John possessed real property at the time the actions described above occurred.

44. Without authorization, White entered the real property possessed by John.

45. White’s trespass to real property damaged John.

COUNT II
TRESPASS TO CHATTELS

46. John realleges the foregoing paragraphs.

47. John possessed certain signs at the time the actions described above occurred.

48. Without authorization, White burned John’s signs.

49. White’s trespass to personal property damaged John.

COUNT III
CONVERSION

50. John realleges the foregoing paragraphs.

51. John owned and possessed the signs at issue in this litigation at all relevant times.

52. By burning the signs without John’s permission, White made an unauthorized

assumption and exercise of the right of ownership of the signs.

53. The signs were John’s personal property.

54. White’s actions excluded John, the true owner of the signs, from exercising rights

over them.

COUNT IV
INTENTIONAL INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS

55. John realleges the foregoing paragraphs.

56. White’s actions described above were extreme and outrageous.

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 57. White intended to cause and did cause John and his young family to suffer severe

emotional distress.

58. White’s actions damaged John and his young family.

COUNT V
INVASION OF PRIVACY

59. John realleges the foregoing paragraphs.

60. Through the actions described above, White intruded upon the seclusion and/or

solitude of John’s home and private affairs.

61. White’s actions would be highly offensive to a reasonable person.

62. White’s actions damaged John.

JURY TRIAL

Plaintiffs demand a trial by jury on all issues so triable.

PRAYER FOR RELIEF

WHEREFORE, John respectfully prays that this Court:

A. Enjoin White from committing any additional trespasses against John’s real and

personal property;

B. Award John all cognizable damages, including but not limited to compensatory

and punitive damages on account of White’s tortious actions; and

C. Award any other relief to John which this Court deems necessary and proper.

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Respectfully submitted this 21st day of August, 2023.

/s/ James R. Lawrence, III

James R. Lawrence, III
NC Bar No. 44,560
ENVISAGE LAW
2601 Oberlin Rd, Ste 100
Raleigh, NC 27608
Phone: 919.755.1317
Fax: 919.782.0452
E-mail: jlawrence@envisage.law

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