North Carolina Lawyers Weekly articles from April 2006

North Carolina Lawyers Weekly archives from April 2006

Lawyers In The News.
April 3, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Chief Judge J. Rich Leonard of the Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District has been selected for induction into the American College of Bankruptcy, the ninth North Carolinian to be so honored....

Rhode Island Lawyers in the News: April 3, 2006.
April 3, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff On March 17th, at the Gaston County Club in Gastonia, the 27A Judicial District Bar held the Judicial District Bar Professionalism Program, sponsored by the Chief Justice's Commission on...

Industrial Commission strikes comp plaintiff's settlement due to misstatement.
April 3, 2006... Byline: Ertel Berry The Industrial Commission has struck a comp plaintiff's settlement because she and her lawyer relied on a statement from a company nurse that no similar claims had been filed against the employer. The plant nurse...

No N.C. jurisdiction of eBay dispute with Tenn. seller.(rules of online marketing)
April 3, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Although selling goods online is the wave of the future, an unpublished Appeals Court opinion shows that traditional principles of long-arm jurisdiction still govern disputes with out-of-state...

Standards set for briefs to full commission.(rules for paraphrasing testimony)
April 3, 2006... Byline: Michael Dayton Workers' comp lawyers take note new length and formatting requirements now apply for appeals from deputy commissioner decisions. The standards apply to all appeals submitted to the full commission under Rules...

Judge upholds $250,000 punitives for auto fraud.(Greene v. Royster )(Case overview)
April 3, 2006... Byline: Ertel Berry An Onslow County car dealer is liable for $250,000 in punitive damages to a customer who paid $1,900 for what she thought was a 1993 Saturn with 77,000 miles on it only to learn that it had 226,000 miles and could only...

247 applicants successful on February Bar.
April 3, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Nearly 250 applicants have passed the February Bar, the Board of Law Examiners announced last week. BLE officials finished grading exams and verifying scores on March 25. That same day, they...

Greensboro couple establishes scholarship for UNC Law Students.(Daniel and Dawne Deuterman)(University of North Carolina)(Brief article)
April 3, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Daniel and Dawne Deuterman of the Deuterman Law Group in Greensboro have endowed a scholarship to benefit students attending the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law. The Daniel Lyndon and Dawne...

"The Political Economy of the Roberts' Court" focus of symposium.
April 3, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Professor of law Maxwell L. Sterns will be the keynote speaker at the annual Lecture-Symposium series, sponsored by Campbell University's Department of Government, History and Justice. Free and...

North Carolina lacks law to police private wells.
April 3, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff In the past 15 years, three attempts to require minimal testing of private wells in North Carolina have failed, and that means more than 2 million people in the state drink water that's rarely...

At a glance: North Carolina's portion of the forest land sale.(Brief article)
April 3, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff International Paper announced last week it would sell conservation groups 218,000 acres of forest in 10 southeastern states, including 77,090 in North Carolina. In North Carolina, the land is...

N.C. Industrial Commission Case Summaries: April 3, 2006.
April 3, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Workers Compensation Mediation - Settlement Contract - Refusal to Execute - Mistake of Fact - Prior Asthma Case Where both parties entered into the mediated settlement agreement based on...

NC Court of Appeals Unpublished Case Summaries: April 3, 2006.
April 3, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Arbitration Award Confirmation - Prejudgment Interest - Not Included - Unavailable Even though, in an amended award, the arbitrators noted that the plaintiff had asked for prejudgment...

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Case Summaries: April 3, 2006.
April 3, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Practice Sentencing - Drug Quantity Three defendants have their drug conspiracy convictions affirmed, despite their claims of numerous errors by the trial judge in handling...

U.S. District Court Middle District Case Summaries: April 3, 2006.
April 3, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Discovery - Non- Party - Attorneys - Privilege Review - Costs Where a non-party law firm produced documents subpoenaed by the defendant, but where the law firm neither...

U.S. District Court Western District Case Summaries: April 3, 2006.
April 3, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Personal Jurisdiction - Corporate - Foreclosure - Repurchase of Assets - Minimum Contacts - Service of Process Even though the plaintiff had a consent judgment with Secret...

Verdicts & Settlements April 3, 2006 Judge lets stand $250K punitives over sale of parts only Saturn.
April 3, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of action: Fraud and unfair and deceptive trade practices Injuries alleged: Misrepresentation of car's status, mileage Name of case: Greene v. Royster et al Court/county: Onslow...

Verdicts & Settlements April 3, 2006 Jury awards $40K for failure to maintain drainage ditches.
April 3, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of action: Negligence claim for defendant's failure to maintain drainage ditches and storm water system within its right of way Injuries alleged: Plaintiff suffered large sand deposits in...

Verdicts & Settlements April 3, 2006: Parents of child killed driving ATV on road reach settlement.
April 3, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of action: Dump truck negligence Injuries alleged: Death of nine-year-old boy Name of case: Confidential Court/county: Perquimans County Superior Court Case no.:...

N.C. Lawyers in the News: April 10, 2006.
April 10, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff James B. Maxwell, of Maxwell, Freeman & Bowman, P.A. in Durham, served as coach of the Duke moot court team that won its first national competition recently in New York City. Maxwell has also been...

Hugh Stevens inducted into NC Journalism Hall of Fame.(of Everett, Gaskins, Hancock & Stevens)(North Carolina)(Brief article)
April 10, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Hugh Stevens, a partner with the Raleigh firm of Everett, Gaskins, Hancock & Stevens, was inducted into the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame at a ceremony held last week in Chapel Hill. Mr....

N.C. Appeal Court upholds discipline for lawyer's Web site claim.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Michael Dayton A Greensboro attorney who claimed on his Web site to be "one of the elite percentage of attorneys to be published in Federal Law Reports" was properly disciplined for a false or misleading communication, the Appeals...

N.C. Court of Appeals rules looking into car panels exceeded scope of driver's general consent.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Michael Dayton Two Robeson County detectives who peeled back a rubber strip and plastic lining in a minivan to look inside a wall panel exceeded the consent a motorist gave them to search the car, the Court of Appeals ruled April...

N.C. Appeals Court rules homeowners' lawsuit over major sewage spill was not time-barred.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Michael Dayton Even though Sanford homeowners first complained about small overflows from a town sewer in 1996, their 2004 lawsuit -- filed after an August 2003 spill put three feet of sewage in their basement -- was not...

Medicaid changes to turn estate planning on its head.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Syliva Hsieh (This article originally ran in Michigan Lawyers Weekly, Detroit, MI, another Dolan Media publication.) Buried in the 750-page federal budget bill is a bombshell for lawyers who practice elder law and estate...

N.C. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: April 10, 2006.
April 10, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Real Estate Appraiser - Certificate Revocation - Misleading Appraisals Where G.S. 93E-1-12 allows the N.C. Appraisal Board to "suspend or revoke" a real estate appraiser's...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: April 10, 2006.
April 10, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Automatic Stay - BAPCPA - Termination - Extension - Estate Property Even though the debtor had a previous bankruptcy proceeding dismissed within a year of his filing of this...

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Case Summaries: April 10, 2006.
April 10, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights College Dorm Room - Drug Raid - Wrong Room Search A college student who was briefly handcuffed and detained when police who were executing a drug raid mistakenly entered his...

U.S. District Court Western District Case Summaries: April 10, 2006.
April 10, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Labor & Employment FMLA - Notice - Prejudice - Poor Performance - Age Discrimination Claim Even if the defendant-employer did not provide the plaintiff with the notice required by the...

Law firms eye focus groups for market research.
April 17, 2006... Byline: Nora Lockwood Tooher When Graham & Dunn, a mid-sized Seattle law firm, considered moving its offices from downtown to the up-and-coming waterfront several years ago, its attorneys wondered how clients would react. Also, they...

N.C. Lawyers in the News: April 17, 2006.
April 17, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Veteran Guilford County attorney Jonathan V. Maxwell recently retired from the post after 30 years of government service. A UNC law graduate and former law clerk to Justice Dan K. Moore, he worked...

N.C. Supreme Court to review ban on expert speed opinions.
April 17, 2006... Byline: Ertel Berry The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether it should overturn long-standing -- and long-criticized -- case law that bars accident reconstruction experts from giving opinions on vehicular speed. In granting...

Final dismissal entered on ethics charges against former Union County prosecutors.(Scott Brewer and Kenneth Honeycutt)
April 17, 2006... Byline: Ertel Berry A Disciplinary Hearing Commission panel has entered its final order tossing out the State Bar's ethics charges against two former Union County prosecutors. The most serious allegations -- that former Union County...

Wake County jury awards $1.8 million over office building mold.
April 17, 2006... Byline: Ertel Berry Wake County jurors have awarded $1.6 million to a man who claimed toxic mold in the Cary office building where he worked caused permanent dizziness and memory problems. In a March 27 verdict, the jury also awarded...

S.C. law librarian shares vision of 21st Century facility.(Gordon Russell of School of Law)
April 17, 2006... Byline: Greg Froom The Charleston, S.C. School of Law's emphasis on digital resources is a well-calculated gamble that the school's library director says could make him a national guru -- or a pariah in the world of academic legal...

Voter information guide: North Carolina judicial candidates.(Directory)
April 17, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Supreme Court Wainwright Seat Name: Ann Marie Calabria Date and place of birth: October 31, 1947, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania Present address: 1197 Crabtree Crossing Parkway, Morrisville...

N.C. Supreme Court Case Summaries: April 17, 2006.
April 17, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Licenses & Permits - Labor & Employment - Psychological Associate - Professional Counselor Where our Court of Appeals held, Where the petitioner kept his psychology and...

N.C. Court of Appeals Unpublished Case Summaries: April 17, 2006.
April 17, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Appeals - Jurisdiction - Trial Court - Rule 60 Motion Where the plaintiff had already appealed the trial court's order approving the exemptions the defendant claimed under...

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Case Summaries: April 17, 2006.
April 17, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Jurisdiction - Stating Federal Claim - Securities Fraud A Presbyterian minister whose church sought to fund his retirement by engaging a trustee firm to set up a trust for...

Verdicts & Settlements April 17, 2006: Wake jurors award $1.8M over toxic mold in office building.
April 17, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of action: Premises liability -- office building -- permanent injury caused by exposure to toxigenic molds Injuries alleged: Complete loss of vestibular (balance) function of both inner...

North Carolina Lawyers in the News: April 24, 2006.(Joe Sollee joins Kennedy Covington Lobdell & Hickman)(Andy Bernardini joins McAngus Goudelock & Courie)(Carruthers & Roth attorney Craig Taylor recognized for work)
April 24, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff In Raleigh, Kennedy Covington Lobdell & Hickman hired Joe Sollee as special counsel in its business and technology practice group, and Kevin Lyn made partner at Alston & Bird. Judge Steve...

Tenants' payments to landlord attorney didn't create fiduciary duty.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Ertel Berry A landlord's attorney who accepted tenant payments on a lease/option contract -- and held them for months in her trust account -- didn't have to tell the tenants that the money was later turned over to the landlord, the...

Plaintiffs can't avoid costs award in Waffle House case.(race discrimination)
April 24, 2006... Byline: Ertel Berry Four plaintiffs who lost a jury trial on race discrimination claims against a Waffle House restaurant will not be excused from paying costs to the defendants, a federal judge has ruled. The decision by Chief U.S....

Time bar on policy claims didn't affect Chapter 75 suit, Appeals Court says.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Ertel Berry Even though a Forsyth couple's contract and bad faith claims against their homeowners' carrier were time-barred, that didn't bar a deceptive trade claim arising from the same incident, the Appeals Court held April 18....

Charlotte office of Fisher & Phillips holding new employer seminar.
April 24, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff The Charlotte office of national labor law firm Fisher & Phillips, LLP will conduct a seminar on new employer responsibilities May 24 at the Ballantyne Resort in Charlotte. The program, entitled...

North Carolina Central University launches summer pre-law program.(Brief article)
April 24, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff North Carolina Central University's Department of Political Science will launch a summer pre-law program. The six-week program is designed to help prospective law students and others interested in...

Retired Raleigh lawyer dies at age 87.(Joseph Blount Cheshire IV )(Obituary)(Brief article)
April 24, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Joseph B. Cheshire IV Retired Raleigh lawyer Joseph Blount Cheshire IV has died at age 87. Born in Raleigh, he graduated from both undergraduate and law schools at the University of...

N.C. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: April 24, 2006.
April 24, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Landlord/Tenant - Fiduciary Duty - Client's Tenants - Rent Disbursement - Foreclosure - Confidential Information Where the defendant-attorneys were retained by the...

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Case Summaries: April 24, 2006.
April 24, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Immigration - Asylum Request - Review - Torture Claim - Congo A native and citizen of the Republic of Congo, who entered the U.S. as a non-immigrant student but failed to...

U.S. District Court Middle District Case Summaries: April 24, 2006.
April 24, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Costs - Prevailing Defendant - Good Faith - Comparative Wealth Even though the plaintiffs brought this civil rights action in good faith, and even though the defendants are...