Until recently, a single judge sitting on a panel of the North Carolina Court of Appeals could tee up an issue for the Supreme Court of North Carolina simply by filing a dissenting opinion. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 7A-30(2) allowed...more
You can hit your snooze button a little later on Tuesdays. Effective January 1, 2025, the Court of Appeals’ scheduled filing days for opinions will be the first and third Wednesday of the month, Since the Court will be...more
On December 13, 2024, the North Carolina Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision on extended compensation benefits that is favorable to employers and workers’ compensation insurance carriers. To be entitled to extended...more
The Supreme Court’s Technology Department has done it again. Quietly adding even more features to the appellate courts’ electronic filings site, www.ncappellatecourts.org. The filing site has long allowed attorneys and the...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
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
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
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
The rollout of a statewide electronic court filing system called Odyssey Integrated Case Management System, or Odyssey ICMS, is officially underway....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
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of North Carolina published an order amending Appellate Rule 26. New Appellate Rule 26 permits appellate documents filed in the trial court using Odyssey’s e-filing system to be served on...more
In the past two years, there have been many interesting and impactful appellate decisions in North Carolina Workers’ Compensation law. Going into 2023, we wanted to flag the following...more
It’s not unusual to see changes on the bench with the arrival of a new year. Come January 1, 2023, Justice Dietz and Justice Allen will join the Supreme Court of North Carolina. All readers of this blog will wish each a...more
Timely Service of Uninsured Motorist Actions - On July 7, 2022, the N.C. Supreme Court received a request, in the matter of Ricky DEAN, Administrator of the Estate of Olivia Darlene Flores v. Ravon Walser ROUSEAU, 2022 WL...more