A dissenting opinion in the Court of Appeals has long been a litigant’s Golden Ticket, at least until a recent statutory change. The mere existence of the dissent bestowed an automatic right of appeal to the Supreme Court of...more
The North Carolina Court of Appeals recently released two cases that raise the question of whether a covenant amendment containing rental restrictions may be adopted by a condominium association or homeowners association....more
On May 23, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that a defendant credit union can enforce an arbitration clause added to a customer’s contract years after its inception. The case centered on a “Notice of Amendments”...more
The North Carolina Supreme Court on Thursday, May 23 held that a credit union’s unilateral update to add an arbitration provision and class action waiver to its contract with one of its customers was valid under North...more
The North Carolina Supreme Court today agreed to review a Court of Appeals decision limiting the immunity enjoyed by healthcare professionals under a Covid-era statute. In May 2020, the pandemic was raging. Our General...more
It is well established that under the North Carolina workers’ compensation law, the question of whether a specific medical treatment is compensable or not hinges largely on the causal relationship between the treatment sought...more
In N.C. Farm Bureau Mut. Ins. Co. v. Herbert, the North Carolina Supreme Court held that UIM policies cannot be stacked when determining whether a tortfeasor’s vehicle is underinsured. The decision upends almost 30 years of...more
In most situations, medical treatment for workplace injuries is fairly straightforward. Workers' compensation statutes require coverage for procedures necessary to treat and correct injuries or illnesses that occurred at the...more
Trigger warning: this post may cause appellate lawyers to have nightmares. There has been a spate of technical glitches lately that caused critical notices from the North Carolina Court of Appeals to end up in “quarantine”...more
If you have a case pending before the North Carolina Supreme Court and haven’t yet received an oral argument notice, your case likely won’t be argued until the fall. The North Carolina Supreme Court does not have an...more
If you have had a case tentatively calendared for oral argument in the Fourth Circuit recently, then you likely received a notice to submit a specific form indicating whether you are aware of any cases currently pending in...more
The four civil cases decided by the Supreme Court on 15 December 2023 hang together by a focus on minimalism and, in three of them, dissenting opinions by Justice Earls. Based on the current composition of the Supreme Court,...more
Amici will soon have more opportunities to share their views with our North Carolina appellate courts. Currently, our Appellate Rules expressly allow for amicus participation at the merits-briefing stage. N.C. R. App. P....more
If a company contracts to acquire software which it then licenses to a third party as a component of a lucrative service package, did it “sell” the software? In Value Health Solutions, Inc. v. Pharmaceutical Research...more
Can an injured worker receive benefits past the 500-week cap in North Carolina? If your first answer was no, then you have come to the right place!...more
Plaintiffs frequently tack on negligent misrepresentation claims to ordinary business disputes. A negligent misrepresentation claim alleges that one party carelessly supplied incorrect or incomplete information on which the...more
On Monday, Governor Cooper elevated Judge Allison Riggs from the Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court. On Tuesday, Judge Riggs and her appellate colleagues issued 24 opinions outside of the normal schedule. And now we hear...more
The Supreme Court of North Carolina gets a lot of questions and filings from unrepresented litigants. Often, those folks are in the wrong court (they should be in the Court of Appeals). Other times, they’re in the right...more
In State v. Richardson, 272A14, filed 1 September 2023, the Supreme Court of North Carolina reviewed the conviction and sentencing of the defendant. The evidence indicated the gruesome and protracted abuse of a child that...more
In a short order issued last week, the North Carolina Supreme Court narrowly voted to vacate a Court of Appeals’ opinion in connection with dismissing an appeal on mootness grounds. Well, I said that the order was short, but...more
Today, Justice Michael Morgan announced that he will be stepping down from his seat on the Supreme Court of North Carolina, effective the week of September 4. This announcement comes following Justice Morgan’s recent...more
I’m afraid it’s time to add another to my recent string of blog posts honoring remarkable judges and justices who have left the bench. United States Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit David Sentelle has...more
Over the last few years, Confederate monuments in many North Carolina towns and cities have been objects of controversy. As one who parked for eighteen years in the shadow of the towering and now-departed Confederate...more
In what some deem the “800-pound gorilla” of election law, the U.S. Supreme Court, on June 27, 2023, rejected the so-called independent state legislature theory in Moore v. Harper. By a vote of 6-3, the Supreme Court held...more
The Supreme Court denied a North Carolina charter school’s petition for review of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that the school’s dress code requirements violated students’ civil rights, the Equal Protection...more