North Carolina Lawyers Weekly

Based on recent activity from the appellate courts, there seems to be renewed interest in the vagaries of Rule 9(j). On April 21, the Court of Appeals issued its decision in Robinson v. Halifax Regional Medical Center. It has several ...

Tagged with: COA

BY MARK MCGRATH Since its inception in 1995, Rule 9(j) has presented stout and unique challenges to medical malpractice victims. As its legislative history makes clear, lawmakers enacted it to eliminate frivolous medical malpractice cases by requiring pre-suit review of ...

Tagged with: Medical Malpractice

On Jan. 7, the Court of Appeals issued a decision that could have far-reaching implications for imposing liability against real estate developers and other parties in premises liability and construction accident cases. The opinion in Copeland v. Crescent Communities, LLC ...

Tagged with: Copeland

By Mark McGrath In 2011 the General Assembly enacted sweeping tort reform legislation that changed the way medical malpractice cases are litigated in North Carolina, amending Rule 9(j) of the Rules of Civil Procedure to require pre-suit review of “all ...

Tagged with: Medical Malpractice

Over the past dozen years, qualifying out-of-town malpractice experts has become a nightmare. Trial courts have grown accustomed to rejecting any expert who is unable to regurgitate detailed demographic data for the community where the alleged malpractice occurred.

On July 25, the General Assembly voted to override Gov. Beverly Perdue’s veto of Senate Bill 33, a tort reform measure that places draconian limitations on the ability of medical malpractice victims to seek redress in court. The bill reads like a Christmas wish list for malpractice insurers, the state Chamber and the medical lobby: noneconomic damages capped at $500,000, virtual immunity for providers who perform vaguely defined “emergency” treatment, heightened requirements for expert witnesses and abbreviated periods of limitation.

Tagged with: Tort Reform

Showering in a strange motel room hasn't been the same since Norman Bates called on Janet Leigh one evening in 1960. Nothing makes a weary traveler think nice hot shower like the thought of a knife-wielding mollycoddle prowling the premises. Wearing a wig no less! Sweet dreams? Down the drain, like so much spiraling gore. While no comprehensive studies have quantified the recent data, anecdotal evidence suggests that the frequency and magnitude of hotel crimes are exploding. "We're absolutely seeing an increase in crime at hotels," says Philip Farina, a security consultant in San Antonio.

Tagged with: Foreseeability Hotel Premises Liability Tort-Negligence

Construction accidents frequently give rise to third-party tort claims. Given the number of entities involved on major construction projects, the chances of identifying a culpable party that is not protected by the exclusive remedy provisions of the workers' compensation act are rather good.

Tagged with: Construction Contractor personal injury Workers Compensation

By MARK McGRATH, Special to Lawyers Weekly [email protected]   Somewhere in the dark recesses of our memories, most of us can recall a measure of what we learned during our first year of law school. Ah, how fondly I recall ...

Tagged with: Premises Liability third-party Workers Compensation

Several years ago a prominent and weather-tested workers' compensation lawyer from down east approached me at a CLE where I had just finished a presentation on inadequate-security cases. He represented the estate of a young woman who had been murdered while working at a check-cashing store, leaving behind two young children. The facts of the case were horrific. The woman was working alone on a Saturday morning and was found by a customer. Her head had been all but severed from her body. Her fingertips had been removed with surgical precision at the first finger joint. Although more than two years had passed since the crime, the police had no suspects.

Tagged with: third-party Workers Compensation