On Tuesday, the Court of Appeals affirmed the Business Court’s award of summary judgment against a shareholder of three private corporations in High Point Bank & Trust Co. v. Sapona Manufacturing, Inc. We wrote about the Business Court’s ruling last year, but here’s the quick recap: The estate of a woman who was the daughter
Blanket References to “All Defendants” Are Insufficient in Multi-Plaintiff, Multi-Defendant Complaints
In North Carolina, the "notice" portion of notice pleading has long been honored more in the breach. A recent Business Court order perhaps signals that enough is enough, at least when multiple plaintiffs each are suing multiple different defendants.
Allen v. Land Resource Group of North Carolina, LLC is the oldest of a growing number of
Ct. App. Reverses Business Court on Audit Choice of Law Issue
The Court of Appeals faced that rarest of truffles this week: an outcome-determinative choice of law question. The Court adhered to its traditional roots and rejected a new test fashioned by the Business Court.
At issue in Harco Nat’l Ins. Co. v. Grant Thornton, LLP was an audit of a company providing bail and immigration bonds
Like Blanche DuBois, This Blog Depends on the Kindness of Strangers
We present two items today for the consideration of our loyal readers:
1. Shameless Plug for Your Votes
The good people at Lexis, which hosts our firm’s legal blogs and many others, recently notified us that we have been nominated for consideration as one of Lexis’s Top 25 Business Law Blogs. If you are a
Trade Association May Appear as Amicus, but Can’t Intervene
An entity can be interested (legally) in the outcome of a lawsuit, or it may simply be interested (in the go-sports-team-from-my-hometown-or-university! sense) in the outcome. Under a recent Business Court ruling, only the former supports intervention under Rule 24.
Time Warner Entertainment Advance / Newhouse Partnership v. Town of Landis involved access to utility poles, a type
Overly Broad Discovery Requests Undercut Attempt to Prevent Spoliation
As discovery of electronically-stored information ("ESI") becomes more prevalent and relevant in litigation, so too does litigation regarding the obligation to preserve ESI. Last Friday, the Business Court issued two orders reaching opposite results on motions for "non-spoliation" orders, based on significant differences between the scope of the preservation obligations that the plaintiff sought to impose.
In Capps
4th Circuit High-Fives Georgia Pacific in enMotion Towel Dispenser Case
If you have visited the restroom in an office building in the last five years, chances are you’ve had the opportunity to use Georgia Pacific’s hands-free paper towel dispenser known as "enMotion." In a published opinion released yesterday, the Fourth Circuit generally ruled in GP’s favor on trademark infringement, tortious interference, and unfair and deceptive
Husband Not Allowed to Dismiss Request for Judicial Dissolution of Family Firm
Be careful what you request in your complaint, particularly if it’s a request for judicial dissolution. According to a Court of Appeals opinion this week, you’ll be stuck with that request if your defendant asks for the same thing.
In Bradley v. Bradley, a husband-wife team were the shareholders and officers of a legal
Good News? $55 Million Default Judgment Set Aside. Bad News? $82 Million Judgment Entered.
If you didn’t think a case with a $55 million default judgment could get more interesting, you were wrong. The Business Court awarded a total of $82 million in damages this week against a company that successfully set aside the lesser default judgment.
In Deutsche Bank Trust Co. Americas v. TradeWinds Airlines, Inc., three
A Tale of Reluctant Reconsideration in the Business Court
In what Judge Tennille described as a "close case," the Business Court reconsidered and reversed the prior dismissal of a breach of fiduciary duty claim, but the principles it outlined should not give litigants high hopes for reconsideration motions in general.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority v. Wachovia Bank, N.A. involved an investor suing its advisors over investments