Appeals court grants NC State temporary stay preventing independent testing of Poe Hall
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — The North Carolina Court of Appeals has granted North Carolina State University’s motion for a temporary stay, preventing independent testing of Poe Hall.
It comes after University leaders appealed a different judge’s decision earlier this month that would have allowed N.C. State alumni, workers and their attorneys to gather evidence and do their own testing at Poe Hall.
It’s now been six months since the more than 200 NC State workers and alumni learned there were PCBs in the building, and it could have made them sick.
On Thursday, an appeals court judge shared the following order:
By unanimous vote, the motion for temporary stay filed in this cause by expected adverse party North Carolina State University on 14 May 2024 is allowed. The “Order Granting Petitioner’s Amended Petition for Relief Pursuant to Rule 27(a), Denying Respondent’s Motion to Dismiss Petition and to Strike Petition, and Denying Respondent’s Request for Stay” entered by Judge Hoyt G. Tessener on 7 May 2024, is hereby stayed pending this Court’s ruling on NCSU’s petition for writ of supersedeas. A ruling on that petition will be made upon the filing of a response to the petition or the expiration of the time for response if no response is filed.
NC Court of Appeals
Prior to the appeals court ruling, former PhD student Dr. Darren Masier and his legal team were looking to conduct their own testing of Poe Hall, where he spent hours in from 2009 to 2013. In July 2023, the 57-year-old was diagnosed with leukemia.
“I just don’t understand why they wouldn’t allow for another set of eyes to go in there and look around,” Maiser told CBS 17 on Wednesday, a day before the ruling. “What are they trying to hide?”
N.C. State University officials said they’ve been doing their own testing since they closed down Poe Hall.
Preliminary lab results were released in December. The University has also involved NIOSH, a federal agency, and a private environmental consulting firm to examine the elevated levels of PCBS found in the building.
On the website for Poe Hall updates, Chancellor Randy Woodson wrote “the university remains committed to doing the right things.”
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