Appellate Court Opinions

Admissibility of prior bad acts testimony against defendant under Evidence Rule 404(b); whether the trial court's failure to give a limiting instruction on the Rule 404(b) evidence was prejudicial error.

Whether governmental immunity bars a former employee's declaratory judgment complaint against the City seeking relief based on an employment contract between the parties.

Workers' Compensation; whether the Industrial Commission's findings of fact support the conclusion that plaintiff is not entitled to compensation for permanent partial disability.

Whether the trial court erred in denying defendant's motion to dismiss plaintiff's suit against the University; whether defendant properly raised a sovereign immunity defense before the trial court, thereby making defendant's interlocutory appeal from denial of its motion to dismiss immediately reviewable by an appellate court; whether plaintiff's complaint should be dismissed on mootness grounds.

Appeal from conviction for attempted first-degree rape of a child; whether the trial court erred in failing to dismiss the attempted rape charge for insufficiency of the evidence.

Whether the Court of Appeals erred in invoking Appellate Rule 2 to consider defendant's unpreserved argument on appeal.

Whether N.C. Rule of Evidence 702(a1) requires a witness in a DWI case to be qualified as an expert pursuant to Rule 702(a) before he may testify to the issue of impairment related to HGN results; whether the trial court erred in denying defendant's request for a special jury instruction explaining that results of a chemical breath test were not conclusive evidence of impairment.

Whether the defendant is entitled to a new trial based upon the trial court's self-defense instructions.

Whether the State failed to prove the 'trespassory taking' element required for a conviction for felonious larceny.

Admissibility of statements that defendant made to police after he was taken into custody; whether defendant made a knowing and voluntary waiver of his Miranda rights; whether admission of the statements was error and, if so, whether the error was prejudicial.

Whether the trial court's admission of potentially incriminating information obtained from an anonymous 911 caller who did not testify at trial violated defendant's rights under the Confrontation Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

As-applied constitutional challenge to N.C.G.S. 90-95(d1)(1)(c), which makes it illegal for any person previously convicted of possessing or manufacturing methamphetamine to possess a pseudoephedrine product.

Admissibility of blood test evidence obtained in DWI case; application of U.S. Supreme Court's decisions in Birchfield v. North Dakota and Missouri v. McNeely to N.C.G.S. 20-16.2(b), permitting warrantless testing of an unconscious person an officer reasonably believes to have committed an implied-consent offense.

Appeal from Court of Appeals' decision reversing the trial court's denial of defendant's motion for appropriate relief (MAR) following his conviction for armed robbery; whether the Supreme Court has jurisdiction under N.C.G.S. 7A-28(a), 7A-30(2), and 15A-1422(f) to hear and decide the State's appeal from the Court of Appeals' decision on the MAR.

Interlocutory appeal from trial court's order denying plaintiff's motion to allow discovery in conjunction with a pending motion to vacate a previous arbitration award and court order and judgment incorporating the terms thereof; whether the trial court's denial of the discovery request implicated a substantial right and thus entitled plaintiff to immediate appellate review of the order.

Appeal from trial court's denial of plaintiff's motions for directed verdict and JNOV after a jury found that plaintiff violated defendant's substantive due process rights; whether an ordinance adopted by plaintiff was invalid on its face or as applied to defendant.

Whether exhibits attached to plaintiff's complaint, which indicate a missing indorsement on the allonge attached to the underlying promissory note, defeat plaintiff's claim for judicial foreclosure as a matter of law.

Workers' Compensation; whether a worker for whom the employer admitted compensability for physical injuries sustained on the job can later recover medical compensation for treatment of anxiety and depression; whether the worker is entitled to continued payment of temporary total disability benefits.