The United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina issued its new Local Rules today. There isn’t a blacklined version available, but there don’t appear to be a large number of changes as far as deadlines. Many of the Western District’s deadlines were already in the seven and fourteen day periods
The Court overruled an opposition to designation in a case involving "real estate developments which failed during the current financial crisis."
The Court found these types of cases "especially suited" for consideration by the Business Court because "(1) they involve numerous parties, (2) they involve complex issues, (3) they involve current issues relating to real
The Local Rules for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of North Carolina are going to be amended to square up with the new time periods for various filings contained in the revised Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
The Revised Middle District Rules, blacklined to show the changes, are already available. So are
The Court stayed discovery pending its resolution of a Motion to Dismiss. There is no discussion in the very short Order of the reasons for the Court’s decision, but the briefs are useful.
MassMutual’s Brief in Support of Stay of Discovery
North Carolina’s Superior Court Judges met for their bi-annual Conference last month. There are always presentations at these conferences useful to those of us standing on the other side of the bench, and this Conference was no exception.
You can see the full list of papers and handouts from the October 2009 Conference here
The Court denied a Motion for Preliminary Injunction under the North Carolina Trade Secrets Protection Act.
Plaintiff had failed to show a likelihood of success on the merits, for a number of reasons. First, the manufacturing process which Plaintiff claimed was a trade secret was not meeting the requirements of the third party buyer involved
It looks like there is a small problem with the impending amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
The drafters seem to have overlooked an important point: exactly how will the Rule changes apply to deadlines which have started running before December 1st, the date on which the changes become effective?
If you
It might seem self-evident that the Business Judgment Rule applies to decisions made by the managers of a limited liability company, but if you were looking for a North Carolina case to cite on that point before last week, you wouldn’t have found one.
But now, we have Mooring Capital Fund, LLC v. Comstock North
When the parties to a contract have negotiated and agreed to a mandatory forum selection clause, that clause is valid except when compelling reasons dictate otherwise.
The Court enforced a forum selection clause in a franchise agreement, and transferred venue of the case from Gaston County to Buncombe County.
A shareholder who guarantees the debt of a corporation does not have an injury "separate and distinct" from the injury sustained by the corporation itself. The shareholder did not standing to pursue damages for the breach of a contract with the corporation. A shareholder "cannot assert claims against a third party for loss of its