By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: November 10,2010
West Virginia Highlands Conservancy Inc. v. Huffman. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-01-1078, 17 pp.) (Wilkinson, J.) No. 09-1474, Nov. 8, 2010; USDC at Clarksburg, W.Va. (Keeley, J.) 4th Cir. Click here for the full text of the opinion. Holding: A West Virginia state environmental protection agency must obtain pollutant discharge permits under the Clean Water Act [...]
By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: September 3,2010
Haynes v. Blue Ridge Paper Products Inc. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-04-0850, 15 pp.) (Martin Reidinger, J.) W.D.N.C. Holding: Plaintiffs who live on land bordering a river containing discharge from a paper mill have no federal common-law nuisance claim because such claims have been entirely preempted by legislative measures including the Clean Water Act. Dismissed with [...]
By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: August 30,2010
Hensley v. North Carolina Department of Environment & Natural Resources. Both the respondent-developer's proposal and the respondent-agency's variance conditions ensured that erosion and sedimentation were minimal during the period of golf course construction along Banks Creek. Our Court of Appeals held that the project was not "temporary" because of the developer's presumed need to conduct periodic maintenance activity in the creek's buffer zone; however, this reading contradicts the stated purpose of the Sedimentation Pollution Control Act: to encourage continued development.
By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: July 30,2010
State of North Carolina ex rel. Cooper v. Tennessee Valley Authority. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-01-0728, 34 pp.) (Wilkinson, J.) No. 09-1623, July 26, 2010; USDC at Ashveille (Thornburg, J.) 4th Cir. Holding: The 4th Circuit reverses a district court’s injunction requiring immediate installation of emissions controls at four TVA electricity generating plants, based on the [...]
By dmc-admin
Published: December 7,2009
Metheney v. Prime Carolina, LLC. (Lawyers Weekly No. 09-04-1089, 11 pp.) (Martin Reidinger, J.) W.D.N.C. Holding: Defendant agrees to comply with all applicable terms of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System and other laws adopted by the N.C. Environmental Management Commission and the federal Clean Water Act. Defendants have reimbursed plaintiffs’ litigation costs and compensated [...]
By dmc-admin
Published: November 23,2009
Hensley v. North Carolina Department of Environment & Natural Resources. (Lawyers Weekly No. 09-07-1047, 55 pp.) (Linda M. McGee, J.) (Sanford L. Steelman Jr., J., dissenting) Appealed from Wake County Superior Court. (Osmond Smith, J.) N.C. App. Holding: Even though the intervenor-developer received a permit allowing it to make temporary and minimal intrusions into the [...]
By dmc-admin
Published: September 14,2009
Mirant Potomac River LLC v. U.S. EPA. (Lawyers Weekly No. 09-01-0835, 13 pp.) (Duncan, J.) No. 08-1277, Aug. 12, 2009; On Petition for Review. 4th Cir. Holding: A coal-fired power plant in Alexandria, Va., has no standing to challenge the EPA’s approval of Virginia’s Clean Air Interstate Rule State Implementation Plan, because the plant’s alleged [...]
By dmc-admin
Published: June 29,2009
Ellison v. Gambill Oil Co. (Lawyers Weekly No. 09-06-0584, 2 pp.) (Per Curiam) From the Court of Appeals. N.C. S. Ct. Holding: Where our Court of Appeals held, Where there was evidence that the actions of defendant Barrett – who both installed and repaired the system that leaked gasoline into the groundwater and contaminated plaintiff’s [...]
By dmc-admin
Published: June 29,2009
Ellison v. Gambill Oil Co. (Lawyers Weekly No. 09-06-0584, 2 pp.) (Per Curiam) From the Court of Appeals. N.C. S. Ct. Holding: Where our Court of Appeals held, Where there was evidence that the actions of defendant Barrett – who both installed and repaired the system that leaked gasoline into the groundwater and contaminated plaintiff’s [...]
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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.
