Effective October 1, 2020, House Bill 679 amended Rules 3 and Rule 5 of the North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure. Of significance, Rule 5 was amended to make electronic mail, and e-filing where available, permissible forms...more
North Carolina General Statute § 7A-30(2) allows for an appeal as of right to the Supreme Court of North Carolina from “any decision of the Court of Appeals rendered in a case…in which there is a dissent.” Seems pretty...more
Another week, another published ruling on an en banc rehearing petition from the Fourth Circuit. Last week we saw Judge Niemeyer arguing in a published concurring opinion that en banc review should be denied so that the case...more
A few years ago I wrote about The Curious Cases(s) of the Published Denial of Rehearing. In that post, which focused on two published denials of rehearing from the Fourth Circuit in the span of a week, from the I noted a...more
The Fourth Circuit announced today that in-person oral arguments would continue to be suspended for the October 27-30 argument session. As with the September session, cases assigned to pre-argument review “will be scheduled...more
The Fourth Circuit has extended its suspension of the Local Rule 36(a) requirement that published opinions have oral argument. Effective immediately, Chief Judge Gregory has extended Standing Order 20-01, originally adopted...more
Can a party “manufacture” appellate jurisdiction for an otherwise interlocutory appeal through the voluntary dismissal of remaining claims? That question was generally answered in the negative by the Supreme Court in 2017 in...more
Fourth Circuit Chief Judge Gregory today issued “Standing Order 20-01,” which temporarily suspends Fourth Circuit Local Rule 36(a) requiring that any published opinion have oral argument...more
This afternoon North Carolina Business Court Chief Judge Bledsoe issued an Order confirming that the Order issued by Chief Justice Beasley last Thursday applies to cases in the North Carolina Business Court. Judge Bledsoe’s...more
Supreme Court of North Carolina Chief Justice Cheri Beasley issued an Order today under N.C.G.S. § 7A-39(b) that provides litigants and their attorneys some relief from deadlines for filings and other acts in light of the...more
In the current coronavirus pandemic environment, many businesses and their insurance carriers are (or soon will be) looking at the issue of claims for “business interruption.” While there is not a large body of caselaw in...more
Here is a compilation of the current status of the federal appellate courts and announcements about their respective changes, closings, and procedures as of the afternoon of March 19, 2020. Click on the name of the court to...more
The Fourth Circuit this morning joined a growing list of courts that have issued public advisories and instructions regarding operations during this unprecedented time. This includes the closing of the Powell Courthouse in...more
Last week, the Court of Appeals returned to a general question that this blog has addressed before: When is a Notice of Appeal Filing Deadline or Requirement Jurisdictional? In this instance, the specific issue was whether...more
Almost two years ago, I blogged about a relatively rare phenomenon: a published denial of a petition for rehearing. Back then, two recent Fourth Circuit cases had produced petitions for rehearing and then subsequent denials...more
A while back, Justice Edmunds wrote a post that did a deep dive into what it means for the state’s jurisprudence when a case is “affirmed without precedential value.” Matt followed that up with discussion of a Business Court...more
Following up on my post from earlier this week, the Mecklenburg County Business Court CLE concluded on Friday with the panel of Judges, Chief Judge Bledsoe, Judge McGuire, and Judge Conrad, sharing some practice pointers and...more
This past Friday, the Mecklenburg County Bar held its 7th Annual North Carolina Business Court CLE. If you regularly practice in the Business Court, this is a “must attend.” There were a number of helpful, relevant, and...more
Back in March, the Court of Appeals in Ramsey v. Ramsey dismissed a party’s appeal for cumulative non-jurisdictional violations that the Court described as “gross and substantial noncompliance with the North Carolina Rules of...more
Last week I blogged about an en banc opinion from the Fourth Circuit for which authorship of the majority opinion was attributed to two judges. This week from the Fourth Circuit came another two judge oddity-a panel opinion...more
Is there institutional disharmony in the Fourth Circuit? That’s the question that one judge suggested, in a concurring opinion, that lawyers and judges might be asking after an en banc opinion released on Tuesday. In...more
A while back I wrote about the collateral order doctrine as discussed by the Fourth Circuit in Williams v. Strickland. Williams involved an alleged excessive force claim against a law enforcement officer and an...more
About a year ago, we blogged on Zloop v. Parker Poe, in which the North Carolina Business Court dismissed an appeal because the notice of appeal was directed to the North Carolina Court of Appeals instead of the Supreme Court...more
The federal corollary to the oft-blogged about “substantial right doctrine” in the North Carolina appellate courts is the “collateral order doctrine.” As is the case under North Carolina law, the jurisdiction of the United...more
Yesterday, Allison Jones Rushing was confirmed to the Fourth Cicuit. She becomes the youngest federal judge in the country, and will replace Judge Allyson Duncan....more