North Carolina Lawyers Weekly
Anyone who’s spent the last few years waiting for the North Carolina Court of Appeals to hold its first-ever en banc rehearing of a case will have to keep waiting at least a little bit longer.
On July 30, the court granted a father’s motion for an en banc rehearing of a case in which a three-judge panel had affirmed a permanency planning order granting guardianship of a minor to his foster parents. It was the first time the court had ever granted such a motion since legislators passed a law granting the court the power to do so in December 2016 in the dying hours of Gov. Pat McCrory’s administration. More than 100 motions for en banc rehearing had been unsuccessfully filed in that time.
The historic occasion was not to be, however. On Aug. 31 the court rescinded its order allowing the en banc rehearing and returned the appeal to the original panel for further consideration.
Because the case involved a minor, all of the briefs, records, and motions in the case remain sealed, so neither the order granting the motion for a rehearing nor the one rescinding the order shed any light on the court’s reasoning for its decisions.
The court’s unpublished July 6 opinion in the case, In re A.C., has been withdrawn.
North Carolina Lawyers Weekly staff
