A recent opinion out of the North Carolina Court of Appeals is causing comment in the criminal bar. In In The Matter Of J.B.P, (No. COA23-269), a juvenile petition was filed against the juvenile, alleging possession of...more
I have blogged annually about the Appellate Judges Education Institute’s Summit. This year it is being held in Boston from November 14 through 17. As in prior years, it’s going to be a dilly. The program will be pure...more
On May 7, 2024 the North Carolina Court of Appeals issued thirty-three published opinions There’s a lot to chew on here. Here’s my summary of a few of the more interesting or unusual cases.
Warren v. Cielo...more
5/13/2024
/ Animal Cruelty ,
Appellate Courts ,
Appraisers ,
Assault ,
Consent ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Dissenting Opinions ,
North Carolina ,
State Bar Associations ,
Time-Barred Claims ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Valuation
It is with sadness that I report on the recent death of retired Chief Judge John Martin. He had been fighting cancer for several years and went down swinging. His funeral, held in Raleigh on April 25, 2024, was packed....more
The North Carolina Court of Appeals has a new chief judge. Effective January 1, 2024, Chief Justice Newby has appointed Senior Associate Judge Chris Dillon as the new chief of the North Carolina Court of Appeals....more
I’ve spent a fair amount of time over the last few months working on the examination recently administered to those seeking to become North Carolina State Bar Board Certified Specialists in Appellate Practice. During my...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
Registration for AJEI’s 2023 Summit is now open. It will be held November 2-5 at the JW Marriott in the District of Columbia....more
With little notice or fanfare, the latest North Carolina Senate budget bill stands poised to make a significant change in North Carolina appellate practice. Currently there are several routes to the Supreme Court of North...more
North Carolina recently lost another of its retired appellate judges. K. Edward Greene served on the Court of Appeals for sixteen years following eight years as a district court judge. After his retirement from the bench,...more
Much ink has been spilled exploring the porous jurisdictional border between the trial division and the appellate division. A recent opinion from the Court of Appeals addresses this issue again.
State v. Johnson, No....more
Jurisdiction is a foundation of what we do as trial and appellate practitioners. While a litigant can waive lack of personal jurisdiction, lack of subject matter jurisdiction is death for a case. In its opinions issued...more
If there’s one thing readers of this blog can count on, it is that every even-numbered year ends with a gush of opinions from both appellate courts as the judges and justices strive to finish the year’s work before new...more
12/29/2022
/ Appellate Courts ,
Evidence ,
Failure To Maintain ,
Foreclosure ,
Governmental Immunity ,
Guardians ,
Hearsay ,
Inadmissible Evidence ,
Informants ,
Judges ,
Marital Assets ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Rules of Appellate Procedure ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Third-Party
The legal aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic will be surfacing for years to come. But for those waiting for pendent-appellate jurisdiction and Rule 54(b) sightings, a recent Court of Appeal opinion combines appellate...more
10/14/2022
/ Appellate Courts ,
Appellate Jurisdiction ,
Colleges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Fees ,
Government Lockdown ,
Rules of Civil Procedure ,
School Closures ,
Sovereign Immunity ,
Students ,
Universities
A statute of limitations can end a case before it begins. But which limitations period applies? In its recent opinion in Woody v. Accuquest Hearing Center, LLC, COA21-563 (2022), the North Carolina Court of Appeals tackled...more
On May 3, 2022, the North Carolina Court of Appeals issued a large batch of opinions. By my count, twenty-two were published and thirty were unpublished. While history may prove me wrong, none of the published opinions...more
5/12/2022
/ Appeals ,
Appellate Courts ,
Counterclaims ,
Ineffective Assistance of Counsel ,
Investigations ,
Life Estates ,
Manslaughter ,
Motion for Reconsideration ,
NC Supreme Court ,
North Carolina ,
Pro Se Litigants ,
Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Statement of Grounds ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Will Caveats ,
Wills
In State v. Jonas, [2021-NCCOA-660; No. COA20-712 filed 7 December 2021, the Court of Appeals discussed an appellate requirement that sometimes bedevils criminal defense attorneys: preserving the right to appeal the trial...more
The Appellate Judges Education Institute Summit is scheduled for November 11-14, 2021 in Austin. In light of the ongoing worries about COVID, questions arise as to whether an in-person conference is still planned, what steps...more
The North Carolina Court of Appeals has recently addressed the availability of immunity doctrines to state Magistrates. In Wynn v. Frederick and Great American Insurance Company, the Court addressed issues relating to both...more
Sad news for North Carolina appellate aficionados. Dan Horne, the Clerk of the North Carolina Court of Appeals, is retiring as of June 30, 2021.
As he rides into the sunset, Dan takes with him an impressive amount of...more
The recent opinion of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in M.E. v. T.J., No. COA18-1045 has more twists than a Chubby Checker look-alike contest. The opinion is long and the facts and procedure are somewhat convoluted, but...more
In Pounds, et al. v. Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC, the North Carolina Court of Appeals recently issued an opinion that may have a significant impact on collections law and arbitrability.
Defendant is an entity that...more
Matt blogged last week on Doe v. City of Charlotte, in which we were given multiple lessons in both how to and how not to handle an appeal. Authoring Judge Dietz’s pre-bench experience as an appellate practitioner shows...more
Last year, I blogged about State v. Ellis where a passing motorist gave a Highway Patrol trooper the middle-finger salute and was arrested for his trouble. A divided Court of Appeals allowed the defendant’s conviction to...more
In State v. Golder, 79PA18, filed 3 April 2020, the Supreme Court of North Carolina provided helpful guidance on a vexing issue relating to error preservation: Does a general motion to dismiss preserve for appellate review...more