Cooper still fighting 2000 lawsuit

Roy Cooper is still fighting a lawsuit from 2000.

The state's attorney general, currently running for a third term, is defending himself against a defamation lawsuit filed by his Republican opponent in 2000.

The lawsuit centers on a campaign commercial from that year and could set a national precedent over whether a candidate can successfully sue an opponent over a political ad.

The ad criticized Dan Boyce and his law firm for seeking a large fee in a class-action tax case against the state. Boyce argues that he didn't work on the case; his father did.

His father, Gene Boyce, said Cooper's lawyers are responsible for much of the slowdown.

"They know how to drag a case out," he said. (Char-O)