Appellate Court Opinions

Statutory competency hearing under N.C. Gen. Stat. 15A-1002; distinction between nonwaivable constitutional competency issues and waivable statutory competency issues

motion to dismiss; Home Affordable Mortgage Program; statute of limitations; fraud; date of discovery; question of fact; jury question

negligence; negligence per se; warranty of habitability; residential rental agreements act; plaintiff's forecast was sufficient to create jury question as to whether failure to inspect home over 11-year period was reasonable

Attorney-client privilege, interstate subpoena, subject matter jurisdiction.

Statute of Repose; Negligence; Punitive Damages

Contribution and indemnity claims against school board in bus negligence case; limited waiver of governmental immunity; Tort Claims Act; Rule 14 of the Rules of Civil Procedure; N.C. Gen. Stat. 1B-1(h); statutes strictly construed against waiver of governmental immunity

incompetent spouse; powers of general guardian; equitable distribution claim; legal separation; subjective intent; statutory interpretation; motion to dismiss; lack of subject matter jurisdiction; N.C. Gen. Stat. Sections 50-20, 50-22, 35A-1202, 35A-1241, 35A-1251

summary judgment; derivative claims; fiduciary duty of officer to corporation; fiduciary duty of majority shareholders to minority shareholder; tradename infringement; conversion; unjust enrichment; unfair and deceptive trade practices; civil conspiracy

North Carolina False Claims Act; Qui tam action; 911 Service fees; Rule 12 dismissals; First-to-File Rule; N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-608(b)(5); N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-610; N.C. Gen. Stat. § 143B-1403(a); S.B. 99; S.B. 335; Retroactive application of legislation; Vested right; Inchoate right; Relator.

Consent for Adoption; Biological Father; financial support under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 48-3-601

Involuntary commitment;
Appellate review;
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 122C-3(11)(a)(1)-(II);
Standard of review;
Presumptions;
Burden of proof;

Foreclosure; Appellate Rule Violations; Dismissal

Law enforcement recordings;
N.C.G.S. § 132-1.4A;
Threshold showing of entitlement;
Restrictions;
Not public or personnel records;

Motion to Dismiss; Adverse Possession; Estoppel

plaintiff abandoned 12(b)(1) argument; intentional infliction of emotional distress claim properly dismissed because plaintiff failed to allege that he suffered severe emotional distress

Undue Influence; Summary Judgment; Caveat Proceeding

trial court erred by conditioning driving while impaired defendant's transfer from supervised to unsupervised probation on the passage of a certain amount of time

Forgery;
Uttering;
Obtaining Property by False Pretenses;
Fatal Defect;
Fatal Variance;
Motion to Dismiss;
Unpreserved Issues on Appeal;
Sufficiency of the State's evidence under State v. Golder, 374 N.C. 238, 246, 839 S.E.2d 782, 788 (2020);
Statutory Right to Recordation;
N.C. Gen Stat. ? 15A-1241;
Private Bench Conferences;

statute authorizing punishment of second-degree murder as a class B1 felony under two of three definitions of malice was not ambiguous, and sentencing defendant as a B1 felony offender was not error where jury unanimously found by special verdict form that all three forms of malice had been proven by the state