Appellate Court Opinions

Whether the Department of Public Safety had just cause to terminate a corrections officer from employment for allegedly unacceptable conduct; application of Chapters 126 and 150B to the employee's appeal from an administrative law judge's final decision reversing the termination and imposing a lesser sanction.

Whether N.C.G.S. 7B-901(c) allows a trial court to make an initial finding of aggravated circumstances in the same disposition order that directs cessation of reunification efforts, or whether such a finding must be made in a separate, previous order.

Appeal from conviction for indecent liberties with a child; whether testimony by defendant's wife should have been excluded under the marital communications privilege and Rule of Evidence 404(b); application of N.C.G.S. 8-57, 8-57.1, and 7B-310.

Motion to suppress evidence; whether the trial court properly determined that defendant was not seized and that his Fourth Amendment rights thus were not implicated.

Negligence suit by spectator hit by a baseball while at defendant's ball field; whether defendant met its duty of care to plaintiff under 'The Baseball Rule'; whether trial court erred in granting summary judgment for defendant in lieu of letting the matter go before a jury.

Workers' Compensation Act; application of N.C.G.S. 97-10.2, which states the rights and obligations of an employer and employee regarding payment of benefits under the Act when the employee recovers a settlement in a common law action for damages against a third-party tortfeasor.

Whether the trial court erred in giving a disjunctive jury instruction on one of the elements of first-degree sexual offense; whether the error was prejudicial to defendant.

Conviction for sexual exploitation of a minor under N.C.G.S. 14-190.16; whether the trial court abused its discretion in overruling defendant's objection to the prosecutor's closing argument and denying defendant's request for an instruction defining 'oral intercourse' as requiring penetration.

Motion to suppress evidence; whether the affidavit on which a warrant authorizing a search of defendant's property was based established probable cause to issue the warrant.

Whether defendant received adequate notice of his probation revocation hearing pursuant to N.C.G.S. 15A-1345(e).

Whether defendant is entitled to a new trial because the trial court erred in giving an unsupported jury instruction on flight.

Interlocutory appeal from N.C. Business Court order allowing plaintiffs' motion to disqualify defense counsel under Rule 1.9(a) of the N.C. Rules of Professional Conduct.

Whether attorney-client relationship existed among several parties arising from indemnity agreement, and if so, whether certain communications were protected by attorney-client privilege.

Interpretation of section 39-23.9 of N.C. Uniform Voidable Transactions Act; meaning of the term 'transfer' and whether the statute is a statute of repose.

Whether the indictment charging defendant with habitual misdemeanor larceny was fatally defective.

Appeal from trial court's denial of defendant's motion to suppress evidence found during a traffic stop; whether the police officer unconstitutionally prolonged the stop beyond the time reasonably required to complete the stop's mission under the Supreme Court of the United States' decision in Rodriguez v. United States.

Whether the indictment charging defendant with felony carrying a concealed handgun was fatally defective in violation of N.C.G.S. 15A-928.