You’ve undoubtedly been in a mediation where the lawyer on the other side has asked for a break so she can call her client’s insurance carrier in order to get a response to your latest settlement offer. You wait — reliant on her summary of your devastating statement in the mediation about how the carrier
Watching The Court
Does A Petition For Discretionary Review Divest A Trial Court Of Jurisdiction?
The place where a a trial court’s jurisdiction over a case on appeal meets the competing jurisdiction of the appellate court over that same case is is a busy intersection. It is often hard to tell when the trial court no longer has the jurisdiction to make rulings in a case that has been appealed.
It Takes More Than Just $5 Million To Get A Case Into The NC Business Court
This week, I published a post on this blog in which I suggested that a case involving $5 million in controversy could be designated to the Business Court without the Court having to analyze the nature of the claims before it to see if they met any of the bases for mandatory jurisdiction contained in…
The Business Court Opens Its Door Wide To “Intellectual Property” Disputes
The Business Court doesn’t often discuss its interpretation of the statutory bases for a designation to the Court, all of which are contained in G.S. sec. 7A-45.4. So its published Order this month in Southeastern Automotive, Inc. v. Genuine Parts Co. 2016 NCBC 61, is worth noting.
The issue in Southeastern Automotive was…
“Winding Up” A Law Firm Partnership Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Liquidation
You can "wind up" a partnership without having to liquidate all of its assets and terminating its existence. So ruled Judge McGuire last week in Hardin v. Lewis, 2016 NCBC 55. But that may not be true for all partnerships. This case involved a law firm partnership which was continuing to operate its…
NC Court Of Appeals, Not Sure That It Had Jurisdiction, Dismisses Appeal From Business Court Decision
How does your appeal get dismissed when you’ve appealed to the "right", "appropriate", or "correct" court? In other words, your appeal was to the Court with jurisdiction over your appeal. It happened in the NC Court of Appeals this week.
The Date That Your Case Was Designated To The Business Court Is Critical To Your …
NC Attorney General Reaches $9 Million Settlement With “American Indian Business” Western Sky Over Usurious Loans
You will remember the North Carolina Attorney General’s lawsuit against Western Sky Fin’l, LLC. It generated an opinion from the Business Court last year in which Judge McGuire enjoined the Defendants from making further high interest loans in violation of North Carolina’s usury laws. The Defendants had claimed that as an American Indian related…
Why North Carolina Is Probably The Best State In Which To File A Voluntary Dismissal Of Your Case
You have a case set for trial in a state trial court. You are tenth on the trial calendar, but the nine cases in front of you have crumbled and settled over the weekend. Plus, your most important witness is gone from your state based on your guess that the case wouldn’t be reached for…
NC “Seed Law” Trumps The Uniform Commercial Code
The Business Court last month resolved a clash between North Carolina’s "Seed Law" and the Uniform Commercial Code, in Kornegay Family Farms, LLC v. Cross Creek Seed, Inc., 2016 NCBC 30. The Plaintiff in the Kornegay case is one of eight Plaintiffs in the Business Court suing Defendant Cross Creek Seed for selling…
NC Business Court Refuses To Enjoin Similar British Lawsuit
It’s possible to get an NC state court to enjoin a party from pursuing parallel litigation in another American state. But what about enjoining a party before an NC court from pursuing a parallel case in another country?
The NC Business Court grappled with that international issue late last month in O’Brien v. TCG Consulting …