By Amber Nimocks
Published: October 19,2012
Having the opposing attorney and an insurance adjuster sit in on the deposition of a 70-year-old plaintiff who almost lost his leg in a motorcycle wreck helped smooth the road to a $1.2 million settlement.
By Amber Nimocks
Published: October 19,2012
The divorce attorney and the ex-wife at the heart of Chidnese v. Chidnese, a landmark malicious prosecution claims case, have reached a settlement. The ruling in the case by the N.C. Court of Appeals set a new standard for lawyers’ liability regarding their advice to clients. Asheville attorney Steven Kropelnicki said his client, Kathy Bryan (née Chidnese), recently negotiated a settlement with Diane McDonald, the attorney who represented her husband in their divorce. The amount is confidential, Kropelnicki said.
By David Donovan
Published: October 19,2012
The wheels of justice turn slowly indeed. A federal court in North Carolina has awarded over $5.3 million in attorneys’ fees to lawyers for Dow Agrosciences in a case that took 17 years to see from start to finish. Some of the attorneys arguing before the court weren’t even practicing law yet when the case began its journey in October of 1995. The dispute started when Plant Genetic Systems, later purchased by Bayer, received a patent for some insect resistant crop seeds. Bayer sued several companies, including Mycogen Plant Science, now owned by Dow, for allegedly infringing those patents.
By Phillip Bantz
Published: October 19,2012
A narrowly divided North Carolina Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the co-owners of a beachfront condo unit who refused to pay a $54,000 assessment for renovations. The owners, led by Charlotte police officer Jeffrey J. Johnson, argued that the condo association of Starboard by the Sea in Ocean Isle violated state law and its own development declaration when it renovated and assessed their building separately from the other 32 buildings in the complex.
By Payton Guion, The Mecklenburg Times staff writer
Published: October 19,2012
CHARLOTTE — To refund or not to refund? That is the beginning of a complex set of questions in Cabarrus County, questions that appear destined to be answered in court. For 14 years, the county charged builders and developers special fees — $8.45 million in fees, to be exact, according to figures provided by the county.
By David Donovan
Published: October 19,2012
Every day, attorneys have to face a challenge not present in any other profession — to be adversarial to one another without being acrimonious. So when Lawyers Weekly wanted to get some advice about what lawyers should do to handle firm dissolutions, terminations and other common disputes as professionally as possible, we turned to Ed Gaskins.
By Phillip Bantz
Published: October 19,2012
The N.C. Bar Association has devoted a great deal of time and money to drumming up public interest in judicial elections and educating voters about their choices.
By Dolan Media Newswires
Published: October 19,2012
It’s hard to remember what life was like before software permeated every aspect of business management – from inventory control, marketing, point-of-sale transactions and shipping to human resources, sales analytics and customer relationship management.
By Phillip Bantz
Published: October 19,2012
Trial lawyers throughout North Carolina are calling for legislators to close a loophole in the state law that lets counties, towns, cities and school boards buy liability insurance without losing the protection of governmental or sovereign immunity.
By David Donovan
Published: October 19,2012
Attorneys for Twiggs, Strickland and Rabenau report that they have secured a confidential $10 million settlement against a dump truck driver and his employer for a crash that caused the death of a 35-year-old mother of four.
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State v. Bean Although the state elicited evidence that defendant exercised her right to remain silent, given the other evidence of defendant’s guilt – her own admissions to a nurse, “I killed my husband just because I finally had enough of him” and “I’m guilty” and the victim’s fear that defendant would kill him – the prosecutor’s comments and questions regarding whether defendant mentioned self-defense prior to trial had little bearing on the jury finding defendant guilty.
State v. Primus Even though the list of the elements of attempted felonious larceny set out in State v. Weaver, 123 N.C. App. 276, 473 S.E.2d 362 (1996), included “falling short of the completed offense,” and even though the state proved that defendant completed the offense of felonious larceny, this does not require the conclusion that proof of the completed offense disproves the attempt to commit. The completed commission of a crime must of necessity include an attempt to commit the crime.
State v. Ingram though one of the eyewitnesses was only 10 years old at the time of the shooting, the credibility of the witness’s identification of defendant was a question for the jury.
