By john.stodder
Published: April 4,2012
Without social media, the killing of Martin, an unarmed teenager in Sanford, Fla., probably would have remained forever a four-paragraph news brief in the local newspaper. However, within social media channels, millions of people have taken sides as to whether the shooting was justified.
By Nicole Black, Dolan Media Newswires
Published: March 23,2012
Since we already imprison people at a rate that some estimate is 10 times that of other Western democracies, I would suggest that it’s time to stop criminalizing trivial infractions. For example, it’s hard to believe that jurors are being jailed for using social media during trials. And no, I am not making this up.
By Mike Wells
Published: March 23,2012
Accounts receivable may seem like pretty dull fare to many of us, but if your regular check was fully dependent upon good business practices, you would know why your business manager pushes you so much about collecting on them. A missed paycheck would likely cure you of your indifference.
By Dolan Media Newswires
Published: February 14,2012
BALTIMORE — With 2011 now over, a lot of us are looking at our holdings and assessing what worked well and what didn’t. There were blue chips that did phenomenally well — way better than we expected — and boosted our profitability. But some of our holdings that had breakout years in 2010 pretty much [...]
By Dolan Media Newswires
Published: February 13,2012
Is a convicted felon ever a proper person to hold a position within a profession or regulated industry? In one news report, it was questioned whether a convicted felon was a suitable person to transport human remains. More recently, the State Bar chose to continue the suspension of former Gov. Mike Easley rather than to apply the harsher penalty of revoking his law license. In each case, the party had previously pled guilty to one or more felonies.
By Tonda Rush
Published: February 3,2012
The American Bar Association in February will be asked to endorse a proposed uniform law aimed at new standards for state government websites that host legal materials. The Uniform Electronic Legal Materials Act (UELMA) is proposed by the Uniform Laws Commission to address a trend, still in its infancy, of shuttering public printers and posting [...]
By john.stodder
Published: February 3,2012
A big takings case reported by North Carolina Lawyers Weekly has all the ingredients to pit property-rights advocates against an arrogant government agency willing to send certain property owners into decades of limbo for its own convenience.
By R. Michael Wells
Published: January 13,2012
If you had to identify some of life’s greatest gifts, other than your faith, what would they be? Two different stories, with two different people, and two very different circumstances, give us a big clue. One of the organizations in our area which deals with the aging population does so with kindness and special insight. It deals with seniors suffering through the ravages of dementia in all of its forms. But it sees past the loss of a mind that once was to what remains in the core of us all. It’s a sort of double vision which sees the character of every life.
By Guest Commentary
Published: December 23,2011
The North Carolina Court of Appeal’s recent decision in Mussa v. Palmer-Mussa, in which it refused to recognize an American-Islamic divorce, may have been consistent with North Carolina law, but it resulted in an unjust outcome. The dissent had a more nuanced approach protecting the financial rights of the defendant/wife arising out of a twelve-year marital relationship and at the same time affirming North Carolina’s recognition of religious marriages without a marriage license.
By Ed Poll, Special To Lawyers Weekly
Published: December 23,2011
Top 10 lists have long been a journalistic staple, but their ongoing role on David Letterman’s television show has made their use almost a cliché. Even so, a concise ranking can combine the value of focus with brevity. And there is nothing on which any business, including a law firm, should be more focused than increasing revenues.
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State v. Squires When a state trooper saw a pickup truck on the side of the road after midnight and stopped to see if any assistance was needed, he was not required to leave after a person outside the truck told him everything was okay. The trooper did not impermissibly extend the stop when he checked on the driver of the vehicle.
State v. Rouse Even though, in his opening and closing statements, defense counsel referred to the arresting officers as “very good officers,” counsel did so in the context of arguing that everyone makes mistakes. Counsel could have reasonably made a tactical decision to refrain from challenging the officers’ general professionalism and competence, while still encouraging the jury to find that the officers arrested defendant on May 23, 2010 as a result of their inadvertent mistakes.
Robinson v. North Carolina Department of Correction Where plaintiff testified that, all the way around his wrist, there were “teeth marks” from too-tight handcuffs and that his wrist was bruised and swollen, but where a drawing plaintiff made to document his injuries indicated that only his left finger and thumb were swollen with no indication of bruising, discoloration, a cut or “teeth marks” laterally around his wrist, the evidence supports the Industrial Commission’s finding that plaintiff’s drawing was inconsistent with his testimony regarding his injuries.
Pickney v. Department of Transportation Even though the parties’ settlement agreement provided that plaintiff could “request a job reallocation or pay grade increase” and that defendant would “cooperate with such a request,” the settlement agreement did not provide plaintiff with any guarantee that he would actually receive a job reallocation or pay grade increase upon request. Even if plaintiff proved that defendant breached the settlement agreement by failing to cooperate with his request for a second job reallocation, plaintiff’s evidence provided no basis upon which the trial court could have properly calculated damages.
