North Carolina Lawyers Weekly articles from January 2006

North Carolina Lawyers Weekly archives from January 2006

N.C. Appeals Court rules no attorney fees for pro bono alimony work.(Patronelli v. Patronelli)(North Carolina )(alimony case)
January 9, 2006... Byline: Ertel Berry A statute that lets dependent spouses get attorney's fees in alimony actions didn't apply to a Wake County wife whose lawyer worked pro bono, the Appeals Court held Jan. 3. In a 2-1 first-impression ruling, the...

The downward spiral of Morganton attorney Joe Byrd.
January 9, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff The disciplinary order in Joe Byrd's case chronicles the downward spiral of a lawyer who turned to criminal conduct when beset by financial woes and also shows a gradual reformation through faith,...

A look at three key cases in the history of attorney reinstatements.
January 9, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Bar deputy counsel Root Edmonson, who has prosecuted disciplinary matters for more than 25 years, cites three cases those of Artis Plummer Jr., J. Michael Smith and Julius J. "Jake" Wade Jr. as...

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Case Summaries: January 9, 2006.
January 9, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Immigration - Unlawful Reentry - Deportation Order - Collateral Attack Where the government did not prove that it provided a defendant alien or his lawyer with written...

Interview with attorney Joe Byrd about his decision to seek reinstatement to Bar.(Interview)
January 9, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Lawyers Weekly sat down with former Morganton lawyer Joe Byrd to find out why he petitioned for reinstatement and his reaction to a Bar hearing panel that recommended he not be readmitted. ...

N.C. Appeals Court rules mortgage lender gets no relief from faulty title search.(North Carolina )(American General Financial Services, Inc. v. Barnes )
January 9, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff A lender that refinanced the mortgage on an Onslow County tract relying on a title update that missed a $430,200 judgment filed 22 hours before the closing could not improve its lien priority...

N.C. Lawyers in the News: January 9, 2006.
January 9, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Larry McMahon, a partner in Morganton's Byrd, Byrd, Ervin, Whisnant & McMahon, spoke on underinsured motorist coverage at an Academy of Trial Lawyers CLE recently. The UNC law graduate...

Wake County's public defender sets up shop one lawyer at a time.(G. Bryan Collins )
January 9, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff G. Bryan Collins compares his new job to setting up a large law firm. And no wonder as Wake County's new public defender, he is setting up a large law firm. The office just opened last...

Tech law firm Hutchison+Mason PLLC completes relocation in Raleigh.(Brief Article)
January 9, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Technology law firm Hutchison+Mason PLLC, has moved its offices to a 21,586 square foot suite in a new Trinity Road office building in Raleigh. The firm previously occupied 13,400 square-feet on...

N.C. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: January 9, 2006.
January 9, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Certificate of Need - Exemption - Replacement - No Natural Disaster Where the petitioner's hospital was not destroyed or damaged by accident or natural disaster, the...

NC Court of Appeals Unpublished Case Summaries: January 9, 2006.
January 9, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Tort/Negligence - Constructive Fraud - Pleadings - Double Damages Where the plaintiffs alleged constructive fraud, contending that the defendant- attorney used her position of...

Ethics complaint against former prosecutors time-barred, says DHC.
January 16, 2006... Byline: Ertel Berry The State Bar has asked a disciplinary hearing panel to reconsider a preliminary ruling that ethics charges against two former Union County prosecutors were time-barred. In a memorandum of law filed last week, the...

Bar official denies coercing lawyer into AA.(Alcoholics Anonymous)
January 16, 2006... Byline: Michael Dayton Responding to a lawsuit filed against him, a State Bar official has denied that he tried to force an Asheboro lawyer into Alcoholics Anonymous. Edmund F. Ward III, assistant director of the State Bar's Lawyer...

Occupational comp for brown lung denied despite lengthy dust exposure.(compensation)
January 16, 2006... Byline: Ertel Berry Even though a mill worker's doctors said his brown lung problems were caused by 31 years of cotton dust, his comp claim for an occupational disease was properly denied, the Appeals Court has held. A key basis for...

North Carolina Lawyers in the News: January 16, 2006.(Eric H. Biesecker and Stuart C. Gauffreau joins Nexsen Pruet Adams Kleemeier)(Michael J. Greene joins Goodman, Carr, Laughrun, Levine & Murray)(Susan L. Fosmire and Djuana L. Swann joins Henderson County attorney's office)(Brief Article)
January 16, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Eric H. Biesecker and Stuart C. Gauffreau have been elected partners in the Greensboro office of Nexsen Pruet Adams Kleemeier. Biesecker is a commercial litigator who focuses his practice in the...

N.C. Legal Community Obituaries: January 16, 2006.(Robert S. Cahoon, William A. Dees Jr. and Rod Duke)(Obituary)
January 16, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Robert S. Cahoon Robert Strange Cahoon, retired lawyer of Greensboro, died Jan. 7 at age 90. A Plymouth native, he attended Wake Forest College and the Wake Forest School of Law. Before...

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Case Summaries: January 16, 2006.
January 16, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Immigration - Adjustment Status Denial - Asylum - Jurisdiction A Filipino's appeal of the Board of Immigration Appeals' denial of adjustment status is dismissed because...

NC Court of Appeals Unpublished Case Summaries: January 16, 2006.(North Carolina)(collateral estoppel case)(assault on officers case)(child support, domestic relations and property settlement case)
January 16, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Contested Case Hearing - Final Order - Judicial Review - 30- Day Limit Where the appellant initiated two contested case hearings to challenge the actions of the appellee,...

Accounting malpractice, air crash claims top Lawyers Weekly verdict and settlement survey.
January 23, 2006... Byline: Ertel Berry Claims that fraudulent audits allowed a Burlington company to hide huge losses in a reinsurance pool led to a $250 million settlement that topped Lawyers Weekly's survey of the 25 largest verdicts and settlements in...

Impact on remainder property boosts condemnation awards in North Carolina.
January 23, 2006... Byline: Ertel Berry Multimillion-dollar condemnation awards and settlements are increasing in North Carolina, but the most obvious explanation rising real estate values may not be the only factor. "If you look at just the raw...

N.C. Court of Appeals rules deputy gets workers' comp after performing 'routine' CPR.(North Carolina, workers' compensation, cardiopulmonary resuscitation)
January 23, 2006... Byline: Michael Dayton A Cumberland County deputy sheriff who had a brain aneurism after performing CPR was entitled to workers' compensation benefits, the Court of Appeals has ruled. The deputy was trained in cardiopulmonary...

Associate Justice Sarah Parker appointed N.C. Supreme Court Chief.(North Carolina )(Brief Article)
January 23, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Associate Justice Sarah Parker has been tapped for the Supreme Court's top post. Last week, Gov. Mike Easley named Parker as chief justice to replace I. Beverly Lake Jr., who has reached...

2005 CLE annual report forms being mailed this week to active N.C. lawyers.
January 23, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Got CLE? You'll know just how much by Friday, when the state Board of Continuing Legal Education mails out its 2005 CLE annual report forms to all active lawyers. "If a lawyer does not...

N.C. Legal Community Obituaries: January 23, 2006.(North Carolina )(Obituary)
January 23, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Stuart Childs Stuart Childs of Charlotte died Jan. 3. He was 82. He was a UNC law graduate, and practiced in the Charlotte firm of Childs and Shannonhouse for more than 30 years. At...

N.C. Lawyers in the News: January 23, 2006.(North Carolina )(Adam B. Snyder joins Poyer & Spruill)(Allyson Duncan receives honour)(J. Jason Link and Jennifer O'Connor joins Kilpatrick Stockton)(Brief Article)
January 23, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Adam B. Snyder has joined Poyer & Spruill's Raleigh office, where he practices corporate and taxation law. The 2002 Alabama law graduate also has an LL.M in taxation from the University of...

Commentary: Ask The Risk Man.
January 23, 2006... Byline: Jay Reeves My friend Robert recently ran the New York City Marathon, finishing in roughly the same time I spent at Southpoint Cinema watching King Kong. Key to his success: a training regimen that combined short sprints, timed...

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Case Summaries: January 23, 2006.(searches and seizures case)(U.S. v. Rizzi)(domestic relations case)(Humphrey v. Humphrey)(employment and disability discrimination case)(Heiko v. Colombo Savings Bank F.S.B.)
January 23, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Contract Consumer Protection - TILA - Truck Purchase - After- Market Add-On A buyer who purchased a 2002 Dodge truck from defendant dealer, and then purchased a 2003 Dodge truck from...

U.S. District Court Eastern District Case Summaries: January 23, 2006.
January 23, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Federal Jurisdiction - Diversity - Corporate - Place of Operations - Illinois Corporation - Raleigh Property Where the defendant-corporation's only purpose is to own and...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: January 23, 2006.
January 23, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Automatic Stay - North Dakota Suit - Non- Debtor Co-Defendants - Corporate - Piercing the Veil Where a lawsuit in federal district court in North Dakota seeks to pierce the...

N.C. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: January 23, 2006.
January 23, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Judgments - Enforcement Action - Foreign Corporation - Certificate of Authority - Personal Jurisdiction - New York - Contract Where the plaintiffa New York corporationonly...

Ethics case complex against former Union County prosecutors.
January 30, 2006... Byline: Ertel Berry State Bar allegations that two former Union County prosecutors engaged in "dishonesty, fraud and deceit" in a death penalty case and the DHC's dismissal of those charges as time-barred have been widely publicized. ...

Disciplinary Hearing Commission publication defect sinks exception to ethics deadline.
January 30, 2006... Byline: Ertel Berry A State Bar rules change that exempts felonious conduct from the filing deadlines for ethics charges was not properly enacted and never took effect, according to a panel of the Disciplinary Hearing Commission. The...

N.C.Bar Assn. says no to court fight over $50 surcharge.(North Carolina Bar Association)
January 30, 2006... Byline: Michael Dayton Saying the case probably can't be won, leaders at the North Carolina Bar Association have voted not to take part in a federal lawsuit or file a state court action over a $50 surcharge on all active lawyers. NCBA...

Ten new partners in 2005 named at N.C. law firm of Kennedy Covington.
January 30, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Kennedy Covington voted 10 attorneys into the firm's partnership last year, four of whom joined as partners. Richard K. Brown, in the firm's financial services department, where he focuses...

N.C. legal associations hosting joint seminar.(North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers and North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys)(Brief Article)
January 30, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff In what is being called an historic first, the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers and the North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys are teaming up for a joint seminar, The event,...

DHC says new trial findings not binding in N.C.(Disciplinary Hearing Commission)
January 30, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff In an April 30, 2004 order, Superior Court Judge W. Erwin Spainhour ordered a new trial for Jonathan Hoffman based solely on the non-disclosure of an immunity deal a key prosecution witness,...

N.C. Gov. Mike Easley appoints Timmons-Goodson to chief justice of Supreme Court.(North Carolina, Patricia Timmons-Goodson)
January 30, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff A day after elevating the only Democrat on the state Supreme Court to chief justice, Gov. Mike Easley picked another Democratic judge on Jan. 19 to replace her. The state's newest justice,...

Law firm of Nelson Mullins increases starting salaries of associates.(Nelson, Mullins, Riley and Scarborough)(Brief Article)
January 30, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Nelson Mullins has raised salaries for all associates of the firm, according to a Jan. 23 press release. Effective with the Jan. 1 2006 pay period, starting salaries for Nelson Mullins'...

N.C. Lawyers in the News: January 30, 2006.(Allyson Duncan)(Henry L. Kitchin Jr.)(Mitchell P. Johnson )(Brief Article)
January 30, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Henry L. Kitchin Jr. has been elected to the partnership in Helms Mulliss & Wicker's Wilmington office, where he concentrates in commercial litigation, antitrust and competition law, bankruptcy...

Rowan County attorney George L. Burke Jr. dies at age 97.(Obituary)
January 30, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff George L. Burke Jr. George Leonard Burke Jr. of Rowan County, 97, died Dec. 22, 2005, Lawyers Weekly has learned. Born in Evington Va., after graduating from Spencer High School and the...

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Case Summaries: January 30, 2006.
January 30, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Social Security - Chronic Pain - Credibility - Daily Routine A woman loses her claim for social security disability benefits based on her alleged chronic pain, depression...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: January 30, 2006.
January 30, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Automatic Stay - Prior Case - BAPCPA - Inapplicable Where no creditor instituted legal action against the debtor before she filed her bankruptcy petition, the new provisions of...

NC Court of Appeals Unpublished Case Summaries: January 30, 2006.
January 30, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Civil Practice - Rule 11 - Factual Basis - Tort/Negligence - Railroad Crossing Accident - Ownership Where plaintiffs' counsel could not determine who owned the railroad...

N.C. Administrative Hearings Case Summaries: January 30, 2006.
January 30, 2006... Byline: North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Food Program - Disqualification - Overpayment - Poor Records Where the petitioner manipulated its claims to receive more reimbursement funds that it was entitled to, sought...