Appellate Court Opinions

Termination of parental rights; whether the trial court abused its discretion by failing to hold a hearing to inquire whether a GAL should be appointed to represent the mother pursuant to N.C.G.S. 7B-1101.1(c)

Workers' Compensation; whether injury sustained by an employee while working at another business arose out of and occurred in the course of his employment with defendant

Application of N.C.G.S. 14-306.4, prohibiting operation of electronic machines that conduct or promote a sweepstakes through use of an entertaining display, to plaintiffs' marketing system; whether the challenged system is exempt because it involves a game of skill, rather than a game of chance; whether the trial court erred in granting plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of gambling laws against them; whether appellate court has jurisdiction to hear sheriff's interlocutory appeal from the preliminary injunction because the appeal affects a substantial right

Whether the trial court committed prejudicial error by giving a jury instruction that constituted an opinion on a question of fact in violation of N.C.G.S. 15A-1222 and 15A-1232

Whether an indictment charging defendant with larceny was fatally defective because it did not allege that the church co-owner of the property has the legal ability to own property; whether the State presented sufficient evidence of defendant's intent to commit felony larceny by showing that he made an unlawful entry and property was later found missing from the premises

Reasonable suspicion to make investigatory stop of defendant; motion to suppress evidence seized as a result

Motion to suppress evidence; whether the district court had authority to order a general search for weapons of defendant's person, home, and vehicle pursuant to an ex parte Domestic Violence Order of Protection

Plain error review; whether defendant should receive a new trial in light of the trial court's unobjected-to failure to deliver a supplemental guilty knowledge instruction.

Reasonable suspicion to make investigatory stop of defendant; motion to suppress evidence seized as a result

Trial court's instructions to a deadlocked jury in violation of N.C.G.S. 15A-1235; whether defendant waived appellate review of his argument that the instructions violated Art. I, sec. 24 of the N.C. Constitution; plain error review

Review of zoning board's denial of a special use permit to open a medical clinic in a residentially zoned area

Workers' compensation claims for injuries sustained by employees while working out of state; benefits were paid by employer's insurer that provided coverage in that state under that state's workers' compensation laws; when employees later 'transferred' their claims to the N.C. Industrial Commission, whether employer's different insurer responsible for claims in North Carolina is liable for these plaintiffs' claims filed in this state

Condemnation action; whether an inverse taking occurred based on the Town's impairment of defendant's vested right to develop property under an approved subdivision plan; extent of area affected by the taking/unity of ownership of adjacent parcels

Motion by defendant for change of venue; whether sufficient evidence was presented that plaintiff was a resident of the county in which he filed the action; whether the trial court erred in denying the motion

Workers' Compensation; request by plaintiff-employee to reinstate suspended disability benefits; whether, when determining the merits of plaintiff's case, the Industrial Commission erred in failing to address a deputy commissioner's previous dismissal of the claim under Commission Rule 613

When defendant was convicted of violating a domestic violence protective order while possessing a deadly weapon, whether the trial court committed plain error in not instructing the jury on the lesser included offense of misdemeanor violation of a DVPO.

Whether sufficient evidence supported defendant's request for a jury instruction on involuntary manslaughter

First-degree murder (capital/death)

Interpretation of definition of elder adult under N.C.G.S. 14-112.2 (2011)