North Carolina Lawyers Weekly
In its decision reversing the imposition of a penalty for respondent’s large (64 percent) understatement of her income, the Office of Administrative Hearings drew a distinction between improper deductions and deductions that were insufficiently documented. However, G.S. § 105-236(a)(5)(b) says ...
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Taxation — Large Individual Income Tax Deficiency – ‘By Any Means’ – Insufficient Documentation of Deductions
Insurance — Commercial – Civil Practice – Discovery – Reserve Information – Relevance 
The defendant-insureds suffered an equipment breakdown and related losses, and their insurers seek a declaratory judgment as to coverage. Since this case does not involve fraud, the insurers’ reserves are not relevant and therefore are not discoverable. The court denies ...
Read More »Civil Practice — Late-Served Summons – Corporate – Derivative Action
The only service the defendant-limited liability company has received came in the form of an expired summons, meaning the action was discontinued as to the LLC. However, the LLC is a necessary party in this derivative action. To avoid more ...
Read More »Real Property — Partition by Sale – Division of Proceeds
The parties inherited real property from their father. After their father’s death and before petitioners sought partition by sale, respondent spent $35,560.93 in taxes and repairs to the property and collected $76,123.71 in rent from tenants. The trial court could ...
Read More »Real Property — Easements –Road Maintenance – Plat Reference – Card Gate Location
A 2018 declaration of easement establishes a new association whose purpose is to maintain a private road. That declaration refers to a 2014 plat that depicts the plaintiff-homeowners’ association’s (HOA’s) card gate facility at a location to which the HOA ...
Read More »Corporate — LLC – Litigation Expenses – Prior to Suit – Non-Lawyer Contractor – Voluntarily Dismissed Claims
Defendant Burnette seeks indemnification from the defendant-limited liability company for the expenses he incurred in successfully defending a lawsuit brought by plaintiff, a co-member of the LLC. Both the Limited Liability Company Act (LLC Act) and the Business Corporation Act ...
Read More »Tort/Negligence — Negligent Misrepresentation – Accounting – Corporate – Justifiable Reliance
Plaintiff, now a former shareholder of the defendant-corporation, complained often about the defendant-accountants’ failure to include certain “commissions receivables” when they calculated the corporation’s share price; nevertheless, due to his desperate financial situation, plaintiff accepted the proffered stock redemption price ...
Read More »Contract — LLC Operating Agreement – Amendment – Signature Pages Only
Even if plaintiff was given only the signature page of a 2010 amendment to the family limited liability company’s operating agreement, plaintiff agreed that he signed it because he considered the LLC to be his father’s to do with as ...
Read More »Domestic Relations — Parent & Child – Custody – Jurisdiction – Pending Motion – Temporary Orders
The plaintiff-father argues that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to enter its August 2020 custody order because his 2018 custody motion was no longer pending. It is true that, in the two years between the father’s filing of his custody ...
Read More »Criminal Practice — MAR – Stricken Testimony – 5th Amendment Privilege – Post-Direct Assertion – Second-Degree Murder – Malice
At three hearings on defendant’s motion for appropriate relief, a material witness (1) recanted his trial testimony, in which he had said that, on the night of the fatal crash, when defendant stopped by his house, he saw the other ...
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