It’s not very often that I see a fee application in a settled class action in the Business Court that doesn’t strike me as requesting approval of an overpayment for a less than successful result. Those are most often in the settlement of merger class action in which the only benefit for the class was
Professional Responsibility
Your “Limited Appearance” in the Business Court May Not Be As Limited As You Think
The attorney for the Plaintiff in Foster Biodevice, LLC v. Cantrell. 2016 NCBC 51 said that he was only making a limited appearance, but the Business Court (through new Business Court Judge Robinson, in his first Opinion for the Court) wasn’t buying the limited nature of the appearance.
Plaintiff’s counsel had previously obtained an…
NC Business Court Revokes Pro Hac Vice Admission Of Out Of State Lawyer
Judge McGuire came down pretty hard on a Florida attorney admitted pro hac vice (meaning “for this one particular occasion”) by another Superior Court Judge, in McCarthy v. Hampton, 2016NCBC 4. He revoked the lawyer’s admission and barred him from practicing law in North Carolina for the next two years.
What had this…
Be Very Careful If You Are Instructing Your Clients Not To Answer Questions At A Deposition
In an (unpublished) Order last week in Griggs v. Bittersweet Farms, LLC, Judge McGuire ruled that Plaintiffs’ counsel’s instruction to his client not to answer certain deposition questions was improper. He granted a Motion to Compel responses to the unanswered questions, denied a Motion for Protective Order to excuse the Plaintiffs from having to…
NC Business Court Gives Full Faith And Credit To LegalZoom’s California Class Action Settlement
There are probably some of you who lie awake at night wondering whether Leagalzoom’s offering of do it yourself lawyering products will be found to be the unauthorized practice of law (UPL) in North Carolina.
For those few of you, that uncertainty will continue. At the end of last week, Judge Gale issued an opinion…
NC Business Court: What Part Of Disqualification Do You Not Understand?
You will all recall the Business Court’s disqualification of a law firm from representing its longtime client, in Kingsdown Inc. v. Hinshaw, 2015 NCBC 27. Now there is a second chapter to the disqualification, which came in an Opinion last week, in Kingsdown Inc. v. Hinshaw, 2015 NCBC 35.
The disqualified law firm…
Dead Partner And Disqualification
The Business Court on Wednesday disqualified a law firm from representing its longtime corporate client in a lawsuit against the corporation’s former CEO and Chairman of its Board of Directors.
The basis for the ruling in Kingsdown Inc. v. Hinshaw, 2015 NCBC 27 was that a partner in the law firm (now deceased) had…
If You Are Proceeding Pro Se In The Business Court It Is Best Not To Be Defiant
It’s probably never a good idea to proceed without a lawyer in any Court, but if you are a non-lawyer and insist on proceeding pro se in the Business Court, don’t be defiant and obnoxious. You will not like the result.
Two of the Defendants (JW Ray and Digi-Plus LLC) in a case called London…
Eighty Five Thousand Reasons Not To Represent An LLC Without The Approval Of A Majority Of The Members (and one Other Thing)
Be sure that an LLC member has the authority to hire you before accepting the representation of the LLC in a suit by or against another LLC member. That authorization generally requires a majority of the interest of the members, at least under the default provisions of the LLC Act, which apply in the absence…
A Few Things To Avoid When Filing A Brief In The Middle District Of North Carolina
United States District Court Judge Catherine Eagles of the Middle District of North Carolina delivered an admonition last week to all of the lawyers with cases in her Court.
You can read the "text order" here, but she said it was prompted by a recent "rash of briefs" that were out of compliance with…