North Carolina Business Litigation Lawyer & Attorney : Mack Sperling : Brooks Pierce Law Firm : Greensboro, Raleigh, Winston-Salem, Charlotte

If a case involves only a breach of a covenant not to compete or a confidentiality agreement, it is not within the mandatory "unfair competition" jurisdiction of the North Carolina Business Court, based on two recent decisions.

The first case is Workplace Benefits, LLC v. Lifecare, Inc, decided by the Court on July 14, 2008.  In that case, which the Defendant designated to the Court, the Plaintiffs were a former employee of the Defendant and her new employer.

The Complaint asserted that the Defendant was improperly using a Confidentiality Agreement signed by the individual Plaintiff to threaten her so she wouldn't call on potential customers.  The Plaintiffs further alleged that potential customers had been impeded from doing business with the corporate Plaintiff as a result. 

The Complaint sought a declaratory judgment that the Confidentiality Agreement was invalid, and also made claims for tortious interference with contract and a breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing.

The case was designated to the Business Court (by me) based on the Court's mandatory jurisdiction over cases involving "unfair competition law."  Judge Tennille disagreed that there was mandatory jurisdiction, and held:

every suit based upon a breach of a restrictive covenant or breach of a Confidentiality Agreement [will not] give rise to a mandatory business case based upon “unfair competition.” In order to raise a material issue of unfair competition, some additional factors must be alleged. For example, allegations of the theft of trade secrets which provide a competitive advantage to one party could give rise to a mandatory case. See e.g., Analog Devices v. Michalski, 157 N.C. App. 462, 579 S.E.2d 449 (2003). Also, actions designed to unfairly damage another’s business would give rise to an unfair competition claim. See, e.g., Sunbelt Rentals, Inc. v. Head & Engquist Equip., LLC, 174 N.C. App. 49, 620 S.E.2d 222 (2005).

The Court determined that those additional factors were lacking in the Workplace Benefits complaint. 

In the Order in the second case, decided yesterday, the Court remanded a lawsuit in which the plaintiff sought a declaratory judgment that a covenant not to compete was invalid. Judge Tennille remanded the case on his own motion, before any Answer had been filed, and referenced the Workplace Benefits decision.

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North Carolina's Business Court is a "model for the nation," according to Directorship Magazine's Annual Guide to State Litigation.

In addition to complimenting the Business Court, the Annual Guide gave North Carolina's litigation climate a green light, indicating that the "state's liability climate encourages growth and job creation."   It gave North Carolina a high national ranking, much higher than the State's ranking in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce rankings issued earlier this year.

The State's litigation climate ranking was sixth (behind Tennesse, Utah, Indiana, Ohio, and North Dakota), against twenty-first in the U.S. Chamber report.

Depending on your perspective, the litigation weather in North Carolina according to the Guide is partly cloudy or partly sunny.  The Guide said that North Carolina

"has maintained a fair and predictable liability climate that leads to growth and job creation.  It ranks among the three best states for monetary tort losses, improving from 7th in 2006.  However, North Carolina's product liability losses rank 36th, which indicates heightened litigation activity and a rise in jury verdicts.  Further, the state's plaintiffs' bar is very active in the state legislature: a bill defeated last year extending the statute of repose from 6 to 15 years would have made North Carolina one of three states with the longest period for filing claims.  There is a rule of law majority on the state Supreme Court and the state business court serves as a model for the nation.  North Carolina, however, is a state to be watched because of aggressive trial bar legislative efforts." 

The Directorship Magazine rankings took the U.S. Chamber of Commerce rankings and evaluated them in conjunction with the U.S. Tort Liability Index prepared by the Pacific Research Institute, blending the two into its own ranking.  North Carolina was ranked third in the Pacific Research Institute's study, which evaluates a myriad of empirical evidence.  The Institute's complete spreadsheet, containing data for all 50 states, is here.

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The North Carolina Court of Appeals has before it a number of the interesting issues decided by the Business Court over the past several months.

There are, by my count, fifteen Business Court decisions on appeal to the Court of Appeals.  The cases involve class actions, derivative actions, forum selection clauses, motions to stay, and antitrust law, among other matters.

The list of cases on appeal is below, with links to earlier posts or case summaries on this blog about the Business Court decision as well as the dates of the most recent filings in the Court of Appeals.

Antitrust

Teague v. Bayer AG (Appellant's Brief filed November 21, 2007; Appellee's Brief filed January 23, 2008).  Antitrust case involving issues of indirect purchaser standing. 

Class Actions

Blitz v. Agean (Record on Appeal filed June 16, 2008).  Denial of class action under the Federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

Moody v. Sears Roebuck and Co. (briefing concluded January 2008, argued March 5, 2008).  Need for court approval before dismissal of class action.

Derivative Actions

Egelhof v. Szulik  (Appellant's Brief filed June 5, 2008).  Sanctions against derivative action plaintiff and his lawyers.

Gaskin v. J.S. Proctor Co. (Record on Appeal filed June 24, 2008).  Whether claims of limited partners against general partner were derivative, or direct.

Regions Bank v. Regional Property Development Corp. (Notice of Appeal filed May 20, 2008).  Dismissal of derivative action by members of limited liability company. 

Employment

Kornegay v. Aspen Asset Group, LLC (Notice of Appeal filed June 18, 2008).  Appeal from jury verdict finding breach of contract to pay bonus compensation and existence of bonus agreement and violation of North Carolina Wage and Hour Act.  Post-trial, the Court refused to award liquidated damages under the Act.

Motions To Stay

Signalife, Inc. v. Rubbermaid Inc. (Appellants' Brief filed June 13, 2008).  Grant of Motion to Stay based on case filed earlier, through electronic means, in federal court. 

Wachovia Bank v. Harbinger Capital Partners Master Fund I (Record filed May 30, 2008).  Grant of Motion to Stay of North Carolina action in favor of a subsequently filed New York lawsuit. 

Forum Selection Clause

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications USA, Inc. v. Agere Systems (Record on Appeal filed May 9, 2008).  Enforceability of forum selection clause.

Trusts

Heinitsh v. Wachovia Bank (Appellant's Brief filed 11/13/2007; Appellee's Brief filed January 14, 2008).  Dispute over distribution of trust proceeds, propriety of attorneys' fees incurred by trustee.

Miscellaneous Issues

Eleanor B. Johnson Limited Partnership v. Ball (Record on Appeal filed May 29, 2008).  Issues involving receivership and arbitration. 

Kintz v. Amerilink LTD (Notice of Appeal filed May 27, 2008).  Appeal of jury verdict in breach of contract case.

Media Network, Inc. v. Long Haymes Carr, Inc. (Notice of Appeal filed May 1, 2008).  Appeal of jury verdict regarding breach of advertising contract.

Schlieper v. Johnson (Appellant's Brief filed February 15, 2008; Appellee's Brief filed April 15, 2008).  Dismissal of claims for fraud, negligent misrepresentation, unfair and deceptive trade practices, and breach of contract regarding sale of business.

The photo at the top of this post is from Lance McCord's photostream on Flickr.

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This is a list of the eight cases (my count) in which Motions to Dismiss are fully briefed and ready for a ruling, with links to the Business Court file for each case:

CompuChem v. Shealy Environmental Services, Inc.: whether employee owed employer a fiduciary duty, validity of claim for aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty, tortious interference claim against competitor.  Defendant also argues that the Court should apply the "new" standard for evaluating a motion to dismiss articulated by the U.S. Supreme Court in Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 127 S.Ct. 1955 (2007).

Covenant Equipment Corp. v. Forklift Pro, Inc.: permissible geographic and temporaral scope of a confidentiality agreement (under South Carolina law).

Crockett Capital Corp. v. Inland American Winston Hotels, Inc.: whether development agreement was a binding contract or an “agreement to agree.”

Fayetteville Imaging Associates, Inc. v. National Imaging Affiliates, Inc.: breach of fiduciary duty, internal affairs doctrine, duty of majority shareholder to minority, pleading fraud with particularity.  The Motion asserts that Tennessee law applies.

General Electric Capital Corp. v. Royal American Co., L.L.C.: impleader, propriety of third party complaint.

Hill v. StuHub, Inc.: Whether claim against on-line ticket website StubHub for scalping tickets is barred by the Communications Decency Act.

Hume v. Stevenson: unfair and deceptive practices (whether actions of defendant were "in commerce," whether transaction involved securities so as to be outside scope of statute), pleading fraud with particularity, motion for a more definite statement.

O’Henry, Inc.v. Advantage Marketing Wholesalers, L.L.C.: sufficiency of allegations of breach of contract (New Jersey law).

These are not complete descriptions of the pending issues, only a general summary. 

I did a similar post earlier this month on pending Motions for Summary Judgment, you can find that here.

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The Business Court has mandatory jurisdiction under N.C. Gen. Stat. §7A-45.4 over claims involving "antitrust law, except claims based solely on unfair competition under N.C. Gen. Stat. §75-1.1." 

The Court gave a broad reading to its grant of its antitrust jurisdiction in an Order today in Sonic Automotive, Inc. v. Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC, in which it denied an objection to a Notice of Designation of the case as a mandatory complex business case. 

Sonic, which already owned nine Mercedes dealerships, sued Mercedes-Benz for refusing to approve its purchase of another dealership in Charlotte.  According to the Complaint, Mercedes-Benz withheld its approval because of Sonic's alleged failure to comply with the terms of a letter agreement executed when Sonic had acquired other Mercedes dealerships. 

The case was designated to the Business Court by Mercedes-Benz as being within the Court's mandatory jurisdiction over antitrust cases and the law governing corporations.  Sonic filed a Motion to Remand objecting to the designation.

There's no claim in Sonic's Complaint denominated as an antitrust claim, and the word antitrust isn't even in the Complaint. 

Mercedes-Benz argued in its Opposition to the Motion to Remand that Sonic's claim was based on a "contract in restraint of trade," which implicated "antitrust and unfair competition issues squarely within the Business Court's jurisdiction."  The car manufacturer was helped in its arguments by public statements made by Sonic's President that Sonic was being "extorted" by Mercedes-Benz and that Mercedes-Benz had "tied" the sale of the Charlotte dealership to Sonic's compliance with the letter agreement.

Judge Tennille found that the Court's antitrust jurisdiction was implicated, and also held that its mandatory jurisdiction was appropriate for other reasons presented by Mercedes-Benz in its Opposition:

Plaintiff has asked the Court to remand this action because the case “does not involve any . . . issue” regarding antitrust law or the law governing corporations. (Pl. Br. Supp. Opp’n 1.) The Court disagrees. First, this case potentially involves violations of antitrust law. Section 75-1.1 of the North Carolina General Statutes does not cover simple breach of contract. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 75-1.1 (2007). Thus, the unfair trade practices claim may involve antitrust issues. Second, this case may involve issues with broad ramifications for automobile dealers and manufacture[r]s. Third, this case may also involve the interplay between courts and administrative agencies. These parties and agencies will benefit from a single judge hearing this case. Fourth, this case involves the sale of a business or business assets. Fifth, the case is likely to be motion intensive.

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Looking ahead, there are a number of Business Court cases in which summary judgment motions have been fully briefed and in which rulings should be issued over the next few months.  In alphabetical order, with links to the Business Court electronic file, they are:

Edgewater Services, Inc. v. Epic Logistics, Inc.: dispute between competing third party logistics companies in the transportation industry including claims involving trade secrets, joint venture, tortious interference with contract by hiring employee subject to non-compete, tortious interference with prospective economic advantage, and unfair and deceptive trade practices.

Griffin Management Corp. v. Carolina Power and Light Co.: plaintiff, a supplier of personnel to Progress Energy and Duke Energy, alleges a destruction of its business through actions by those companies and plaintiff's competitor. It's hard to tell what issues are before the court, because 21 of the last 22 filings were made under seal.  Only those with appropriate security clearance (or at least a secret decoder ring) will be able to read the opinion.

JDH Capital, LLC v. Flowers: the issues include the binding effect of a letter of intent, whether a joint venture existed, and the legal effect of oral statement “we have a deal.”

Land v. Land: shareholder dispute involving claims for breach of fiduciary duty, and issues of statute of limitations and laches.

Leiber v. Arboretum Joint Venture, LLC: commercial paper issues inolving actual and apparent authority, conversion of checks by an allegedy unauthorized agent, and liability of drawee and drawer banks for payment over claimed unauthorized endorsements of checks.  In addition to the Motion on the principal claims, Bank of America and Wachovia are slugging it out here on who should end up holding the bag in the event of an adverse ruling on the agency question.

Marotta v. Datacraft Solutions, Inc.: issues include shareholder's right to vote for election of directors and whether an amendment to the corporation's Articles of Incorporation created dissenters' rights.

Miller & Long Co., Inc. v. Intracoastal Living, LLC: construction law case involving issues of collection on payment bond and enforcement of claim of lien.

Mitchell, Brewer, et al v. Brewer: issues regarding beakup of law firm that was a limited liability company.

Novo Nordisk Pharmaceutical Industries, Inc. v. Carolina Power & Light Company: issue of enforceability of provision limiting or excluding liability in a tariff approved by the North Carolina Utility Commision.

This summary is not meant to be anything near a complete description of the issues pending in these cases.

There are furthermore eight cases in which Motions to Dismiss are awaiting ruling.  I might write about those cases another time if I decide that a forward looking post like this is worthwhile.  You are welcome to give me input on that if you want, either directly (msperling@brookspierce.com) or by commenting below.

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Covenant Equipment Corp. v. Forklift Pro, Inc., 2008 NCBC 10 (N.C. Super. Ct. May 1, 2008)(Tennille)

A service of process issue and a covenant not to compete issue in one decision from the Business Court.  It doesn't get any more exciting than this.  But, seriously, this is a significant procedural decision from the Court, please read on.  (As always, there is a link to the full opinion above).

On the service issue, the delivery of the Complaint to one of the Defendants, Carnie, had not been made in precise compliance with Rule 4 of the North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure.  The Sheriff had left the Summons and Complaint at Carnie's house in South Carolina, but had not delivered it personally to Carnie and had not left it with another person at the residence.  According to Carnie's Affidavit, the papers had been "left stuck in a crack between my doors" by a Deputy Sheriff with the last name of "Fudge."

The Court overruled the Motion to Dismiss for insufficiency of service of process because it found that Carnie had evaded service.  Looking at federal decisions, Judge Tennille ruled that leaving the Summons and Complaint at Carnie's residence was adequate service given Carnie's efforts to evade proper service.

But the groundbreaking part of the the decision on the service issue was the Court's ruling that Carnie had waived his objection to service because he had filed a Notice of Designation of the case to the North Carolina Business Court.  Judge Tennille held that "the filing of a Notice of Designation in an action constitutes a general appearance for the purpose of personal jurisdiction."  Thus, the objection to the sufficiency of service was waived.

The Court's decision goes beyond service of process.  Most significantly, if you are representing a Defendant planning to move to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, you will waive that argument by filing a Notice of Designation to the Business Court.  To keep it alive, the Notice of Designation must contain an objection to personal jurisdiction.  Carnie's Notice did not.

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Ikerd v. Greenwood, 2008 NCBC 9 (N.C. Super. Ct. April 30, 2008)(Tennille)

Yesterday, the Business Court provided more clarification on the requirements for making a timely designation of a case to the Business Court. 

It held that a Notice of Designation must be actually filed in the county in which the case originated within thirty days of receipt of service of the Complaint in order to be timely, not just served within that time frame.

One of the defendants in the Ikerd case had faxed his Notice of Designation to the Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court and to the Chief Judge of the Business Court less than thirty days after he had been served with the Complaint.  But he didn't file the Notice of Designation with the Clerk of Court of Catawba County until more than thirty days after he'd been served. 

Judge Tennille held that this was not a timely Notice of Designation under the terms of N.C. Gen. Stat.Sec. 7A-45.4(b), which allows a defendant to designate an action as a complex business case "by filing a Notice of Designation in the Superior Court in which the action has been filed and simultaneously serving the notice" on opposing counsel, the Chief Judge of the Business Court, and the Chief Justice within thirty days after receipt of service of the Complaint.

"Filing" means actual filing within thirty days in the Court in the County in which the case was filed.  And in counting the thirty days, the Court also held that a defendant doesn't get to count an additional three days if the Complaint was served by mail. 

The full procedure for designating a case to the North Carolina Business Court is described here. 

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The answer to the question above is probably you, if you are reading this blog.

So, you might be interested in a powerpoint presentation that Judge Jolly and Judge Diaz made at the 2006 Conference of Superior Court Judges, on the Unfair and Deceptive Practices Act. 

It seems like a claim under that statute is part and parcel of nearly every business case filed in North Carolina.

There are some good "Practical Pointers" about the statute at the end of the presentation, including the one in the box at the bottom. (The Meineke case referenced is Broussard v. Meineke Discount Muffler Shops, Inc., 155 F.3d 331 (4th Cir. 1998), in which the Fourth Circuit threw out a $590 million unfair and deceptive practices verdict).

Notwithstanding my selection of excerpt from the powerpoint, this is by no means an anti-unfair and deceptive practices presentation.  It outlines a number of fact patterns that make out a UDPA claim, and has a good discussion of the respective roles of judge and jury in the trial of such claims and other useful information.

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Ross v. Autumn House, Inc., February 26, 2008 (Tennille)(unpublished)

If you are a plaintiff filing a Complaint, and you want to designate your case to the Business Court, when is the deadline for filing your Notice of Designation?

The answer is in the statute, it says: "[t]he Notice of Designation shall be filed: (1) By the plaintiff or third-party plaintiff contemporaneously with the filing of the complaint . . . in the action."  N.C. Gen. Stat. § 7A-45.4(d)(1).

In this unpublished case, the plaintiff filed its Complaint on December 6, 2007, and its Notice of Designation on January 3, 2008, 28 days later.  Per the Autumn House case, that is a contemporaenous filing which meets the requirement of the statute.

Judge Tennille relied on guidelines about the designation process filed on the Business Court website.  Those guidelines say that a plaintiff must file its Notice of Designation within 30 days of the filing of the Complaint.  Plaintiff had met that requirement, and the Court determined that the Notice was timely.

If you are wondering about the definition of "contemporaneously," the American Heritage Dictionary defines the word as "happening during the same period of time."  The definition in Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary is more strict.  It defines the word to mean "at the same time with some other event."   

Thanks to Ben Norman, a lawyer at Brooks Pierce who clerked for Judge Tennille, for telling me about this case.

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In case you missed it, you should read The New North Carolina Business Court, an article written by Judge Diaz and Jordan Sykes, one of the Judge's former law clerks. 

The Article highlights certain Rules of the Court which are "often overlooked."  It is certainly worth reading for that reason alone, because overlooking is not advisable and can lead to undesired consequences.

By the way, the Business Court Rules which are on this blog in the menu bar to the left are hyperlinked.  That means you can click back and forth between the table of contents and the Rules themselves.  So, you don't have to scroll all the way back to the top to get back to the table of contents when you need to look at a different Rule, or all the way down in order to find the Rule that you are looking for from the table of contents.  These Rules can be downloaded to your hard drive if you want to do that.

This article appeared in the Spring 2008 issue of the North Carolina State Bar Journal.  The article is the property of the North Carolina State Bar, and is being "reprinted" here with its permission. 

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The North Carolina Legislature created clear categories of mandatory jurisdiction when it expanded the jurisdiction of the Business Court in 2006 (see this post). 

The statute provides that a party can oppose a designation to the Court, but those challenges are rarely successful, as demonstrated by the cases at the end of this post.  But this month, the Court threw out two cases that met the requirements for its mandatory jurisdiction. 

In the first case, Goldstein v. Countrywide Homes, Inc. decided on April 1, 2008, the Court ejected a securities fraud case, smack within the scope of its mandatory jurisdiction. The reason the Court gave was that there were already two cases pending in Wake County making similar claims. One of those cases had already received a Rule 2.1 designation as an exceptional case. The Court found that it would be more efficient if discovery in the cases was coordinated, and that inconsistent rulings would be avoided, and recommended that the case receive a 2.1 designation.

In the second case, Ikerd v. Greenwood, decided on April 8, 2008, the Defendant failed to file its Notice of Designation to the Business Court within the thirty days of its receipt of either the Complaint or the Amended Complaint, as required by N.C. Gen. Stat. §7A-45.4.  The Court denied designation of the case as a mandatory complex business case due to the untimely filing, noting that the case could still be designated as a 2.1 case.

It is far more often that the Court overrules an objection to a mandatory designation, like in these cases, all of which are unpublished decisions denying a party's objection:

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The Business Court was formed in 1995.  Judge Ben F. Tennille was the first Judge of the Court, appointed by the Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court in 1996.  That appointment was pursuant to Rule 2.2 of the North Carolina General Rules of Practice, which provides that the Chief Justice may "designate one or more superior court judges as special judges to hear and decide complex business cases. . . ."  

Rule 2.2 contains commentary on the reasons behind the formation of the Business Court, which was a recommendation of the North Carolina Commission on Business Laws and the Economy.  The Commision noted the lead of Delaware's Chancery Court in the area of specialized courts hearing matters involving corporate law:

many national corporations incorporate in the state of Delaware because of that state's Chancery Court which provides a high level of judicial expertise on corporate law issues. It also observed the desirability of a state having a substantial body of corporate law that provides predictability for business decision making. Also, it is essential that corporations litigating complex business issues receive timely and well reasoned written decisions from an expert judge.

Over the last 12 years, the Business Court has issued nearly 150 "published" opinions (those given an official "NCBC" citation) and numerous unpublished decisions on significant legal issues affecting consumers, shareholders, and businesses operating in North Carolina.

If you are interested in the history of the Court, this article published in the Journal of the North Carolina Banking Institute is excellent.  And if you are delving into that subject, it is worthwhile to read the Report issued by the North Carolina Chief Justice's Commission on the Future of the North Carolina Business Court.  The Commission recommended an expansion of the Court, which led to the addition of Judge Albert Diaz and Judge John Jolly to the Court.  An article about the recent expansion of the Court written by Ben Norman, a Brooks Pierce lawyer who clerked for Judge Tennille, is here.

Judge Tennille reported to the North Carolina Legislature on the first several years of the Court, from 1996-2000, in a detailed report.  Another report, for 2000-2001 is here.  The most recent report, for 2006-2008 is here. 

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A case cannot be filed directly in the Business Court. It must be designated to the Court either by the Plaintiff, at the time of the filing of the Complaint, or by the Defendant, within 30 days of the receipt of the Complaint. Such a motion will be denied if it is untimely, as happened in this case.  The procedure is similar to removal to federal court based on diversity jurisdiction, and is set out in Section 7A-45.4 of the North Carolina General Statutes.

That statutue, as recently amended, describes seven categories of cases that qualify to be designated as “mandatory complex business cases.”  They are:

(1) The law governing corporations, except charitable and religious organizations qualified under G.S. 55A-1-40(4) on the grounds of religious purpose, partnerships, limited liability companies, and limited liability partnerships, including issues concerning governance, involuntary dissolution of a corporation, mergers and acquisitions, breach of duty of directors, election or removal of directors, enforcement or interpretation of shareholder agreements, and derivative actions.

(2) Securities law, including proxy disputes and tender offer disputes.

(3) Antitrust law, except claims based solely on unfair competition under G.S. 75-1.1.

(4) State trademark or unfair competition law, except claims based solely on unfair competition under G.S. 75-1.1.

(5) Intellectual property law, including software licensing disputes.

(6) The Internet, electronic commerce, and biotechnology.

(7) Tax law, when the dispute has been the subject of a contested tax case for which judicial review is requested under G.S. 105-241.16 or the dispute is a civil action under G.S. 105-241.17.

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Judge Ben F. Tennille, the Chief Judge of the Court, sits in Greensboro, North Carolina, in chambers located inside the Elon University Law School.  A bio and a profile of Judge Tennille are here.  This is an article written by Judge Tennille about the use of mediation in the Business Court. 

Judge Albert Diaz sits in Charlotte, North Carolina, where his chambers are in the Mecklenburg County Courthouse.  One bio for Judge Diaz is here, and here is another one. Here is an article about the new Business Court courtroom in the Mecklenburg County Courthouse.

The third Judge of the Court is Judge John Jolly, who sits in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Judge Jolly's bio is here.

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