North Carolina Lawyers Weekly articles from September 2004

North Carolina Lawyers Weekly archives from September 2004

Commentary: raise the bar on client satisfaction.(North Carolina)
September 6, 2004... Byline: Lee S. Rosen Family law practitioners are plagued by burnout. Focusing on customer service and client satisfaction can be a powerful remedy for the burnout problem. Reconnecting with serving our clients (and by extension, the...

North Carolina Law Board announces new admittees list.
September 6, 2004... Byline: Michael Dayton North Carolina just added 532 new lawyers, according to results released last week by the Board of Law Examiners. Among 765 applicants whose July Bar exams were announced, 532 passed, or 70 percent. That total...

Federal judge rules Title VII fees are not limited by contingency contract.
September 6, 2004... Byline: Ertel Berry A lawyer's contingency agreement with a Title VII plaintiff didn't limit the amount to be awarded for reasonable attorney's fees, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. Middle District Judge James A. Beaty Jr. rejected the...

North Carolina ski resort defense verdict stands despite jurors' industry ties.
September 6, 2004... Byline: Ertel Berry A skier paralyzed by a fall on Sugar Mountain will not get a retrial of his negligence claim against the resort -- even though two jurors failed to tell the plaintiff's attorney they knew people in the ski industry. ...

Guest farmworker's wreck in North Carolina results in $5.2M settlement to victim's family.
September 6, 2004... Byline: Ertel Berry A Mexican guest worker's decision to drive his boss' flatbed truck through a Nash County stop sign without slowing down -- allegedly because a supervisor told him to "drive fast" to finish a job -- has resulted in a...

N.C. Court of Appeals rules trial judge couldn't assess fees for appeal.
September 13, 2004... Byline: Ertel Berry A Henderson County trial judge couldn't impose sanctions for a plaintiff's appeal of summary judgment in an estate case, even if the appeal was frivolous, the Appeals Court held Sept. 7. Various statutes authorize...

N.C. Court of Appeals denies defendants attorney's fees over alleged home defects.
September 13, 2004... Byline: Ertel Berry Even though a Guilford couple facing summary judgment voluntarily dismissed seven claims over alleged defects in their home -- and an eighth was tossed on the pleadings -- there was no basis to award the defendants...

N.C. jury to decide whether or not management company is liable for slip-and-fall.
September 13, 2004... Byline: Ertel Berry A jury must decide whether a company's management contract with the operator of a McDonald's franchise made it liable for a slip-and-fall, the Appeals Court held Sept. 7. The contract terms created a triable issue...

N.C. Appeals Court rules letters and e-mails could prove signed formal documents unnecessary.
September 13, 2004... Byline: Michael Dayton Where the parties in a Currituck County land deal traded letters and e-mails suggesting they'd settled their contract dispute -- but never formalized it in a single document -- a trial court could still enforce the...

N.C. jury awards $1M to family of farmer killed in tractor accident.
September 20, 2004... Byline: Michael Dayton The estate of a farmer killed while traveling at 20 mph on U.S. 264 Bypass near Wilson has been awarded $1.07 million in U.S. Eastern District Court. Jurors reached the verdict Sept. 9 in Estate of Keen v. Double...

N.C. Appeals Court rules trucker gets workers' comp for wreck caused by irregular heart beat.
September 20, 2004... Byline: Ertel Berry Although heart attacks aren't covered by workers' comp, a trucker who passed out and crashed in the Rockies due to a bad heart rhythm could still get benefits, the Appeals Court has held. The unpublished decision...

N.C. Court of Appeals rules admitting prior DWI convictions as a harmless error.(driving while intoxicated)
September 20, 2004... Byline: Ertel Berry A pair of unpublished Appeals Court rulings address a common issue in drunk-driving and other traffic cases: when is it reversible error to admit a defendant's prior convictions for the same offense? The bottom...

N.C. Appeals Court rules that mom had to meet visitation order despite son's refusal.
September 20, 2004... Byline: Ertel Berry Even though a Mecklenburg teen balked whenever it was time to go see his dad -- even locking himself in a bedroom to avoid one visit -- that didn't excuse his mom from complying with a visitation order, the Appeals...

N.C. Court of Appeals rules injured ironworker is totally disabled.
September 27, 2004... Byline: David Blackwell Even though an injured ironworker earned $25,000 in rentals on his mobile home park and also made money off a tobacco allotment, the Industrial Commission correctly found he was totally disabled from a workplace...

N.C. jury rules housing agency not liable for resident's death after trespasser's attack.
September 27, 2004... Byline: Michael Dayton A Wake County jury has concluded the Raleigh Housing Authority was not negligent in the death of an 81-year-old resident who was attacked in her apartment. The civil lawsuit arose from the 2001 Thanksgiving Day...