It’s not every day that the Court of Appeals spends almost 12 pages talking about the appellate rules, including why rules compliance is so important. But that’s exactly what the Court of Appeals did in Harney v. Harney. ...more
Oral argument in the appellate courts typically last an hour, with 30 minutes allotted to each side to present arguments. But might a shorter oral argument period be more productive if the parties knew ahead of time the...more
In a recent decision, the North Carolina Court of Appeals held that a general contractor’s execution of partial lien waivers did not prejudice a supplier’s lien rights on the construction project. The case is Atlantech...more
In most cases, a party to a lawsuit unhappy with a ruling cannot appeal that decision until the lawsuit is completely done. The general rule is that only “final orders” can be appealed – meaning there is nothing the trial...more
Can an appellee say that the lower court got it wrong? If so, when? In many appeals, the alignment of interests is clear: the appellant is the party who disagrees with the ruling at issue, and the appellee is the party who...more
Bradley has been publishing an ongoing survey of state-level bid protest processes and procedures (see, e.g., our posts on “Bid Protests in Georgia,” “Bid Protests in the District of Columbia,” “Bid Protests in New York,”...more
Petitions for the writ of certiorari are a fairly routine part of North Carolina appellate practice and procedure, but the Appellate Rules do not provide much guidance on what those petitions should contain. Under Rule...more
I’ve spent a fair amount of time over the last few months working on the examination recently administered to those seeking to become North Carolina State Bar Board Certified Specialists in Appellate Practice. During my...more
If you handle appeals in North Carolina, you need a copy of the Style Guide. This guide is put together by the state’s Appellate Rules Committee and updated regularly. I’ve had to handle appeals in other states, where I...more
The Supreme Court of North Carolina gets a lot of questions and filings from unrepresented litigants. Often, those folks are in the wrong court (they should be in the Court of Appeals). Other times, they’re in the right...more
In State v. Richardson, 272A14, filed 1 September 2023, the Supreme Court of North Carolina reviewed the conviction and sentencing of the defendant. The evidence indicated the gruesome and protracted abuse of a child that...more
There is no such thing as a sure thing. And in three unpublished opinions, the North Court of Appeals reminded lawyers that a notice of appeal does not guarantee appellate jurisdiction....more
On April 18, 2022, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reviewed an insured’s claim against its own property insurer for violation of the North Carolina’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act (“UDTPA”) in a rare published...more
On May 3, 2022, the North Carolina Court of Appeals issued a large batch of opinions. By my count, twenty-two were published and thirty were unpublished. While history may prove me wrong, none of the published opinions...more
In a recent decision touching on many interesting issues, North Carolina’s Court of Appeals effectively determined that, in all but the most obvious cases, expert testimony is required to establish a failure to perform...more
Register Today For Cranfill Sumner’s 2021 Virtual Continuing Education Seminar: Workers’ Compensation & Civil Litigation Law Updates...more
The recent opinion of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in M.E. v. T.J., No. COA18-1045 has more twists than a Chubby Checker look-alike contest. The opinion is long and the facts and procedure are somewhat convoluted, but...more
In the hectic world of North Carolina civil litigation, the focused practitioner understandably may lose sight of the forest for the individual trees. Analyzing thousands of pages of poorly-copied document production for that...more
The North Carolina Court of Appeals Disagrees on the Standard of Review of the Industrial Commission’s Jurisdiction - North Carolina appellate courts do not judge the credibility of witnesses or weigh evidence. That is,...more
North Carolina General Statute § 7A-30(2) allows for an appeal as of right to the Supreme Court of North Carolina from “any decision of the Court of Appeals rendered in a case…in which there is a dissent.” Seems pretty...more
The Court of Appeals of North Carolina's decision in Crosmun v. The Trustees of Fayetteville Technical Community College, ___ N.C. App. ___, 832 S.E.2d 223 (2019) provides much needed guidance to North Carolina courts on how...more
It doesn’t take long for those who read judicial opinions to come across an unsigned, “per curiam” decision. Many decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court, federal circuit courts, and our state Supreme Court are short-ish...more
Last year, I blogged about State v. Ellis where a passing motorist gave a Highway Patrol trooper the middle-finger salute and was arrested for his trouble. A divided Court of Appeals allowed the defendant’s conviction to...more