North Carolina Lawyers Weekly articles from January 2003

North Carolina Lawyers Weekly archives from January 2003

N.C. Lawyers In The News: January 6, 2003.
January 6, 2003... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Benjamin Davis has joined the Raleigh office of Brooks Pierce McLendon Humphrey and Leonard. Previously the Yale law graduate was an assistant to the U.S. Army general counsel. Salisbury...

Supreme court affirms cost-share alternative to non-competes.(North Carolina)
January 6, 2003... Byline: Ertel Berry The Supreme Court has affirmed an employment pact that required a doctor who left a Craven County medical group to pay a share of its overhead and expenses after opening a local practice. The per curiam decision,...

North Carolina Bar Association sues Federal Trade Commission over privacy provisions of federal act.
January 6, 2003... Byline: Michael Dayton The North Carolina Bar Association has filed suit against the Federal Trade Commission, seeking relief from a law that requires some lawyers to send privacy notices to their clients. The action, filed Dec. 27 in...

North Carolina Appeals Court rules non-resident judge could sign Rule 9(j) extension.
January 6, 2003... Byline: Michael Dayton Even though a Superior Court judge who signed a medmal filing extension in Mecklenburg County did not reside in that district, his order was still valid, the Appeals Court has ruled. Under civil procedure Rule...

N.C. Appeals Court rules owner/CEO could not litigate company's claim.
January 6, 2003... Byline: Ertel Berry Because she wasn't a lawyer, a company's CEO, president and sole shareholder could not file an answer or litigate for the corporation in District Court, the Appeals Court held Dec. 31. The CEO's actions violated the...

North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Obituaries: January 6, 2003.
January 6, 2003... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Robert G. Bowers Robert Green Bowers, 75, of New Bern, died Dec. 18. Bowers graduated from law school at Wake Forest in 1952 and began practice that year in Bayboro, where he kept an...

N.C. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: January 6, 2003.
January 6, 2003... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Environmental - Rule Making - Published Text - Amendments - Agency Authority - Wetlands Even though the Environmental Management Commission (EMC) made some changes in its...

N.C. Supreme Court Case Summaries: January 6, 2003.
January 6, 2003... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Declaratory Judgment Action - Judge's Discretion - No Further Controversy - Domestic Relations - DVPO Where the defendant had already been exonerated of the accusations...

N.C. Court of Appeals Unpublished Case Summaries: January 6, 2003.
January 6, 2003... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Practice Speeding to Elude Arrest - Felony - Aggravating Factors - Reckless Driving Even though the defendant's excessive speed did not result in any damage to property or...

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Case Summaries: January 6, 2003.
January 6, 2003... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Black Lung Benefits Weigh of Medical Evidence An award of black lung benefits to claimant, a longtime coal miner and smoker, is vacated because the administrative law judge...

U.S. District Court Eastern District Case Summaries: January 6, 2003.
January 6, 2003... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Discovery - Protective Order - Confidential Documents - Attorneys Only - Party's Access Where the defendants produced documents pursuant to a protective order which...

Mid-level personal injury recoveries are up in North Carolina.
January 13, 2003... Byline: Ertel Berry The jump in business cases and million-dollar recoveries highlights Lawyers Weekly's 2003 Large Verdicts and Settlements issue, but the list contains other numbers and trends as well. One surprising statistic comes...

N.C. appeals court rules pro rata split on medical liens not required.
January 13, 2003... Byline: Michael Dayton Even though a Winston-Salem hospital had a valid medical lien for $38,234, an attorney could distribute his client's personal injury settlement to two other lienholders and pay the hospital nothing, the Court of...

Business misconduct claims lead 2003 large verdict and settlement list in North Carolina.
January 13, 2003... Byline: Ertel Berry Allegations of business misconduct -- from claims of overvalued stock to bad pension investments -- have resulted in the top recoveries on Lawyers Weekly's 2003 survey of large verdicts and settlements. Mirroring...

North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Obituaries: January 13, 2003.
January 13, 2003... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Arthur Goodman Jr. Arthur Goodman, Jr., 76, of Charlotte, died Jan. 5. Born in Mooresville, he was educated in the Mecklenburg County public schools and graduated from Duke University and...

U.S. District Court Eastern District Case Summaries: January 13, 2003.
January 13, 2003... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Intellectual Property Lanham Act False Advertising Crabgrass- Control Product A district court erred in granting a preliminary injunction requiring defendant manufacturer of "Vigoro"...

Verdicts & Settlements January 13, 2003: Infant's Meningitis Goes Undiagnosed.
January 13, 2003... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Medical malpractice A two-week-old infant developed meningitis while hospitalized for dehydration. The meningitis was undiagnosed for four days, leading to brain damage and ultimately death...

Verdicts & Settlements January 13, 2003: Misinterpretation Of Pap Smears Leads To Med-Mal Suit.
January 13, 2003... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Lawsuit was brought by the estate of a 32-year-old woman living in rural eastern North Carolina for her wrongful death based on allegations that individual pathologists and the hospital in which...

Verdicts & Settlements January 13, 2003: Fatal Auto Accident Results In $1.4M Settlement.
January 13, 2003... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff's intestate, a minor, was killed in a wreck involving her vehicle and a commercial vehicle on a two-lane road. Both occupants in the vehicle being driven by the plaintiff's...

Federal judge rules participants in 401(k) could not pursue class action.
January 20, 2003... Byline: Ertel Berry A federal judge has refused to certify a class action that alleged First Citizens Bank put some employees in a riskier mutual fund when it changed their 401(k) plan. The ruling from the U.S. Western District shows...

North Carolina Appeals Court rules center lane driving opened door to contrib defense.
January 20, 2003... Byline: Ertel Berry A Hickory motorist who used a center turn lane to "whip around" heavy traffic -- even though her left turn was 10 blocks away -- was contributorily negligent and could not recover from another motorist for her injuries,...

U.S. Federal Court strikes down scientist's worldwide non-compete pact.
January 20, 2003... Byline: Ertel Berry Even though a Sanford toner distributor had customers "on every continent except Antarctica," that didn't justify a two-year, worldwide non-compete contract with a staff scientist, a federal judge has ruled. ...

U.S. 4th Circuit Appeals Court rules discriminatory remarks enough for trial on bias claims.
January 20, 2003... Byline: Gregory Froom A sheet metal mechanic who was called a "useless old lady" by her safety inspector could take her sex and age discrimination claims to trial in federal court, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Jan. 7. ...

North Carolina Appeals Court rules mom to lose custody over phony child abuse story.
January 20, 2003... Byline: Michael Dayton A Mecklenburg County wife who falsely accused her husband of sexually abusing their daughter properly lost exclusive custody of the child, the Appeals Court has ruled in an unpublished opinion. The trial judge...

N.C. Appeals Court rejects homeowners' suit over faulty septic design.
January 27, 2003... Byline: Ertel Berry Even if a company that designed a waste disposal system misled state officials to get permits, that didn't mean Wake County homeowners could sue for negligent misrepresentation or an unfair trade practice, the Appeals...

N.C. Appeals Court denies job retaliation lawsuit.
January 27, 2003... Byline: Ertel Berry A nursing home employee who was fired less than three months after filing a comp claim could not sue for statutory job retaliation or common-law wrongful discharge, the Court of Appeals ruled Jan. 21. The plaintiff...

N.C. Appeals Court rules company not liable for CEO's plant closing remarks.
January 27, 2003... Byline: Ertel Berry Employees who lost their jobs when a Charlotte plant shut down couldn't sue the corporate owner for negligent misrepresentation -- even though the CEO allegedly told them the plant was profitable and their jobs were...

N.C. Appeals Court rules filter not reasonable accommodation for dust allergy.
January 27, 2003... Byline: Michael Dayton Where a DMV employee's severe asthma was set off by dusty files in her office, her employer failed to show it made a reasonable accommodation by telling her to wear a mask and use an air filtration system, the Court...