Quantcast



Public Utilities – Telecommunications – Administrative – Standing – Billing Agent (access required)

By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: December 15,2011

CGM LLC v. BellSouth Telecommunications Inc. The 4th Circuit upholds dismissal of a suit filed by a billing agent for local telecommunications carriers against BellSouth, the incumbent local exchange carrier, as plaintiff billing agent does not have statutory standing to bring this suit.


Public Utilities – Power Companies – Environmental – Renewable Energy – Biomass – Primary Harvest Tress (access required)

By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: August 4,2011

State ex rel. Utilities Commission v. Environmental Defense Fund G.S. § 62-133.8(a) defines “renewable energy resource” to include “a biomass resource, including agricultural waste, animal waste, wood waste, spent pulping liquors, combustible residues, combustible liquids, combustible gases, energy crops, or landfill methane.” This definition includes primary harvest trees. We affirm the Utilities Commission’s approval of Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC’s application to register two of its thermal electric generating stations - where a blend of wood chips and coal were used as fuel — as renewable energy facilities.


Public Utilities – Municipal – Pole Attachment – ‘Refusal to Negotiate’ Claim – First Impression (access required)

By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: July 13,2011

Time Warner Entertainment Advance/Newhouse Partnership v. Town of Landis G.S. § 62-350 requires a town that owns utility poles to negotiate in good faith with utility providers who wish to attach their cables to the town’s utility poles; in this case, plaintiff has made no showing that the town failed to do so. The town is entitled to partial summary judgment on plaintiff’s claim that the town refused to negotiate. The town’s motion for partial summary judgment is denied as to plaintiff’s claim that the town violated the nondiscrimination requirements of G.S. § 62-350.


Public Utilities – Energy – S.C. Contract – Civil Practice – Mootness – Customer Withdrawal (access required)

By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: November 23,2010

In re Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC's Advance Notice of Purchase Power Agreement. Duke Energy proposed selling energy to the S.C. town of Orangeburg, and the N.C. Utilities Commission ruled on the proposal. Duke and Orangeburg appealed, but then Orangeburg voluntarily withdrew from the proposed energy contract. This appeal is moot, and we decline to address the commission's ruling under either the public interest or the "capable of repetition, yet evading review" doctrines. Appeal dismissed.


Public Utilities – Sewer Easement – Expert Witnesses – Conclusions of Law & Fact – N.C. R. Evid. 704 (access required)

By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: July 25,2010

Cape Fear Public Utility Authority v. Costa. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-07-0659, 17 pp.) (Donna S. Stroud, J.) (Cheri Beasley, J., dissenting) Appealed from New Hanover County Superior Court. (Paul G. Gessner, J.) N.C. App. Holding: Expert testimony from an attorney and a surveyor was inadmissible in a dispute over the existence of a sewer easement because [...]


Public Utilities – Tort/Negligence – Underground Cables – Nicked Power Line – Appliance Damage – No Duty to Inspect (access required)

By dmc-admin
Published: May 31,2010

Andresen v. Progress Energy, Inc. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-16-0481, 9 pp.) (Barbara Jackson, J.) Appealed from Brunswick County Superior Court. (Ola M. Lewis, J.) N.C. App. Unpub. Holding: Even though defendant has a duty to periodically inspect its accessible power lines, plaintiffs failed to show that defendant has a duty to periodically dig up and inspect [...]


Public Utilities – Power Lines – Placement – Municipal – Zoning Ordinance – First Impression (access required)

By dmc-admin
Published: December 21,2009

State ex rel. Utilities Commission v. Town of Kill Devil Hills. (Lawyers Weekly No. 09-06-1128, 2 pp.) (Per Curiam) From the Court of Appeals. N.C. S. Ct. Holding: Where our Court of Appeals held, Even though G.S. Sect. 62-106 – enacted in 1991 – explicitly says the Utilities Commission has the power to preempt local ordinances [...]


Public Utilities – Power Lines — Placement — Municipal — Zoning Ordinance — First Impression (access required)

By dmc-admin
Published: January 12,2009

State ex rel. Utilities Commission v. Town of Kill Devil Hills. (Lawyers Weekly No. 09-07-0002, 27 pp.) (Robert Hunter, J.) (Barbara Jackson, J., dissenting) Appealed from the Utilities Commission. N.C. App. Holding: Even though G.S. 62-106 – enacted in 1991 – explicitly says the Utilities Commission has the power to preempt local ordinances to allow for [...]


Public Utilities – Contract – Limitation of Liability – Filed Rate Doctrine – First Impression (access required)

By dmc-admin
Published: September 29,2008

Novo Nordisk Pharmaceutical Industries v. Carolina Power & Light Co. (Lawyers Weekly No. 08-15-1109, 15 pp.) (John R. Jolly Jr., J.) N.C. Bus. Ct. Holding: A contract’s near elimination of liability for a power company and its subcontractors is upheld because the contract was approved by the N.C. Utilities Commission; therefore, the contract is protected from [...]


Public Utilities – Electricity – Transmission Line – Route – Burden of Proof (access required)

By dmc-admin
Published: October 9,2006

Where the Progress Energy met its initial burden of proving that it had examined alternative routes and that its preferred route was reasonable and in the public interest, the Utilities Commission properly assigned to the intervenors the burden of proving that “an alternative route studied by the utility is preferable to that proposed or that [...]



The Dolan Company